The Song of Eos
by Insanitypie
Summary: A woman who can't remember anything past the age of ten learns she is not exactly who she thought she was. When she thought she was alone, she finds companionship where she never expected. And after millions of years of war, Bumblebee is able to find the comfort he always wanted in this human's world. (Rated M for future content)
1. Chapter 1

((update 12/21: Did some edits and will be going through each chapter to fix writing and hopefully make it better! Hope you guys like it! Thank you so much for reading!))

Chapter 1

R ~~~

July 1

Rachel shuffled her personal belongings around her room, trying to fit most of her clothes into two gym bags. All of this while attempting to be as quiet as possible. The last thing she wanted was her mom to wake up and see her packing.

She huffed out a tired breath as she opened her closet, finding another bag inside that would be just big enough to fit the rest of her belongings in. She made sure to check off mentally all the items she was bringing.

'Clothes: underwear, shirts, pants, pajamas, extra shoes. Phone, charger, and headphones. Laptop and charger. Pillow, bathroom stuff?'

She had honestly glanced over the bathroom necessities. She quietly stuffed anything essential she could think of into the bag.

Once that was settled, she began rounding everything up to take outside. She grabbed the cash she had drawn out of her account from the other night, stuffing it in one of the bags. Just in case of an emergency situation. Food would be extremely important. She'd have to eat cheap for a while.

Once all her clothes were packed, and stuffed into bags, she dragged them out into the car waiting for her outside in her driveway. She had to carry them one at a time because of their weight, but her ride was being patient thankfully.

She tried not to take too long but she had to write a note. It was probably way too long - three whole pages - waiting for her mother on the kitchen counter. She explained a few things but left details vague. The last thing she wanted was for her mother to think she'd been kidnapped. Or killed.

She never would have imagined how hard it would be to write it all out. It made sense in her head at first, but getting it onto paper was harder than she thought . Her hands shook a little as she wrote, and this adrenaline rush wasn't helping her calm down. When she was finished, she set it out on the counter for her mother to see the next morning and hightailed it out the door.

Once everything was in the back of the car, she sat down in the passenger seat and too a deep breath. She going away for a while, and she wasn't sure when or if she would be back.

The radio buzzed on, and her new friend's familiar voice hummed through the inside of the car.

"Is this everything?" he asked.

"It's all I could fit. Just my essentials." she replied, bringing her feet up into the seet and pulling her knees against her chest. The car pulled out of her driveway and sped out of her neighborhood.

She had never done anything like this before, though honestly she couldn't be 100% sure on that.

'You're almost twenty. You'll be fine…' she thought to herself. She continued to tell herself these words in her head. The more she repeated them, the less she believed it.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the voice from the car's speakers again.

"Are you sure your okay with this?"

She smiled weakly and then looked out the window. "It'll be easier to deal with all this. I won't be such a bother now, right?"

"I never said you were a bother, Rachel…"

"It's less stress for both of us. Especially you. I don't have a choice really anyway." her last words came out quietly, though she knew he could still hear her.

A lot of things were more important than her own comforts currently. It hadn't been long ago she had realized the world was filled with more than just humans.

"It won't be the same like it was before."

"I don't care." she said, still very quiet in her words.

There was a long silence. She stared outside the window, watching quietly as her home city passed by. The lights of the signs and billboards blinked and shone brightly through the dark night. The farther they went out of town, the darker it was. Less people, less homes, less society. They were heading into the Nevada desert. Into the middle of nowhere.

She was afraid, but she wanted to learn more. It was the only way to get answers. Was it wrong to try and be a bit brave about all this?

Rachel reached for her phone from her pocket and flipped through missed texts and calls. Her mom called quite a few times over the past week. She knew she could never know about anything that was going on. They would go looking for her once they knew she was gone. Police would definitely get involved.

She turned off her phone and took another long breath. She didn't want to think about the mess she would cause. Would the entire town freak out over a missing woman? Would they even notice she was gone?

She nuzzled her head in her knees, leaning against the window and looked outside again.

Her life started when she was ten. She had amnesia of her childhood, the first memory of her life starting out in a hospital bed. She lived the life of an ordinary teenager after her mother adopted her. She was a bit of an anomaly to some people, but thankfully not a lot knew about her amnesia. She didn't like bringing it up.

"Rachel?" the car spoke to her once more.

Rachel turned her head again and looked at the radio, this time genuinely trying not to cry. She was failing miserably, and she couldn't stop her bottom lip from quivering.

"Bumblebee?"

He was quiet, probably in shock at the sight of her currently. She knew she was a mess. "We can go back… if you don't want to do this…"

"We never learn if we don't try." she said, her voice shaking lightly. "Don't talk me out of it. I don't know who the hell I am, Bee. Now I have a chance to find out."

"And what if you discover it's not what you thought it would be?" He asked her.

She gave a small lift of her shoulders. "I don't know, Bee." She gazed out the window again as everything passed by. She slowly closed her eyes, wanting to try and get some sleep. She wanted to take herself away from all this for awhile if possible. Sleep seemed to help with that.

She spoke to him one last time before drifting off. "You'll keep me level headed, right? You've done a pretty good job at that so far."

She genuinely smiled when she heard his short laughter. "If you say so. I'll keep it up." he told her.

His words warmed her, and it allowed her to slowly drift off.

* * *

June 10

Rachel bundled herself up in a blanket on the couch next to the popcorn bowl. She dug in as her friend Elaine turned on the movie. Weekend movie night, and it was a good way to relax after a long week of work.

"I thought you hated scary movies, Elaine." Rachel said, already beginning to stuff her face with some popcorn.

"This isn't supposed to be that scary." she said. She plopped down on the couch beside Rachel and grabbed a handful of popcorn for herself, and just as Rachel was doing, shoving all the popcorn into her mouth at once.

"But is this one good made horror, or laugh my ass off horror?" Rachel asked.

"I'm working my way up to the really scary stuff. This might be baby stuff for you." Elaine said, grabbing the remote on the couch arm and starting the movie.

"You know it's all just fake, right?" Rachel teased her.

Elaine gave her an unpleasant look. "Yeah, well, it's the idea that gets to me. Why do you have to always make me feel like a wuss? I'm trying, aren't I?"

Rachel snickered cheekily, leaning towards Elaine and giving her a nudge with her elbow. "Don't worry, I'll protect ya."

Elaine threw some popcorn at her face. "Screw you."

Half way through the movie, Elaine fell asleep. It made Rachel nod off a few times as well, but she tried her best to stay awake. It was a weird sci-fi horror film. About aliens that ate people. The plot was silly to begin with, it had silly acting, and the aliens weren't very creative. They were just typical green men, but to be fair, that was the fun part in watching those cheesy films. Ironically loving movies was her favorite thing to do.

Rachel had stopped the movie close to the end and started flipping through the channels, trying to find something entertaining while Elaine slept. She left it on a news channel, for once interested in what was going on in the world.

"Is the movie over?" She heard Elaine speak, her voice croaking a bit from exhaustion. Rachel wasn't sure if she was really awake yet or talking in her sleep.

"You were asleep, I thought I'd just turn it off."

Elaine snatched the remote out of her hands, about ready to flip the channel.

"Hey, hey, hey! I was watching that." she was able to stop her just in time.

Supposedly there had been a few intense meteor showers these past few days, making local news go wild in the area. Property damage, fires, all the things you would expect, only nobody found any trace of the meteors that landed. As much damage as they caused, you would believe there would be something remaining there.

The meteor left no debris of any space rock or anything near the site. Witnesses from nearby had seen large masses fall from the sky. It led to all sorts of speculations. Some of which she just found hilarious.

A video clip recorded on a phone was played, you could clearly see an object falling. Soon enough, the reporters came back and showed a couple crash areas, and the remains were a blazing fire or just a crater.

"Oooh, are you scared Rachel? The aliens are going to come out and eat you, Rachel!" Elaine said, laughing sleepily. Elaine was not very awake, fighting with herself to stay awake.

"Only you would believe that after that movie." Rachel snickered, squinting her eyes at her tired friend.

"Maybe you were afraid. That's why you turned off the movie."

"I'm not afraid of goofy dudes in green suits!" she snorted laughing.

"Uh huh, sure you aren't." Elaine fought off her sleepiness, and went to stand and head for her kitchen behind them.

Rachel got to her feet and followed behind her. She made her way towards the fridge to find something to drink.

"You don't really believe in aliens, do you?" Rachel asked.

"The galaxy is big enough. There's room for other things out there. Why not?"

"Tch, I dunno. You'd think we'd have found them by now? And I'm not talking about people making up stories or blurry videos someone made."

"You never know. The universe is huge. There has to be something out there. We just haven't found it yet."

"Maybe."

"What if there are other beings out there?"

"I don't see any proof yet, so I don't really worry about it. Nor do I care."

"Yeah, but there's no hurt in having fun in just belief."

She gave Elaine a strange look.

"Elaine, you do know the truth about Santa Clause, right?" Rachel couldn't hold of her laugh at the end.

Elaine shoved her shoulder and laughed a little. "That's not even close to being the same thing! That's like bigfoot stuff. This is more… sciency- stuff."

"Uh huh, science~" she teased her friend some more, waving the word around like it was magical.

"Well, how about you share some things you believe in at not a lot of others do? Enlighten me!" Elaine sat down at the table and look at Rachel expectantly.

Rachel squinted at her friend. "What, do you expect me to believe in fairies or something?" she laughed lightly, taking a sip of the soda she'd opened up.

"Have you ever heard the stories of memory loss being common among people who claim to have been abducted?" she asked, her voice going low with that over-dramatic mysteriousness to it.

Rachel felt her insides start to churn a bit. Suddenly her stomach didn't feel very well. "I really don't want to talk about that, Elaine." she glanced awkwardly off to the side.

Elaine recoiled a bit, trying to take bad her words. "Sorry. I didn't mean… I didn't know it bugged you so much"

"It's fine." Rachel clarified. "I just don't like to think about it."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Rachel walked back into the tv room, wanting to very quickly change this conversation.

"No."

* * *

Rachel drove home, her heart pounding after her evening with Elaine. It wasn't something she could easily forget about unfortunately. Usually whenever that subject was brought up, her mind would start racing with worry and more questions would build up. One of the many reasons she liked it staying out of conversation.

She thought to herself: 'I should have apologized to her. I was being rude. She's only curious.'

Her phone rang and she hesitated, searching for her phone in her bag beside her carefully with her eyes still on the road. She answered to her mother.

"Hi, honey, are you on your way home?"

"On my way back now."

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay... have you looked at the news tonight?"

"Yeah, I saw it."

"You don't sound like you care as much as I do. Those hit close to the city, you know."

"I'm alive and well. You don't need to worry. Hey, I'll even bring home your favorite ice cream, just so you won't freak out."

"As long as you're home safe, that's all I care about. Can you also grab some milk? And not that skim stuff. Please get 2%. We're almost out."

Rachel chuckled softly. " I will. Love you."

Rachel hung up the phone and drove to the nearest grocery store. It was on the way home thankfully so it wouldn't be too out of the way. She quickly stopped at the store to grab the groceries for her mom and was out the door as soon as she could.

Once she was back on the road, she decided it would be faster to take the backroads. The less traffic she had to deal with, the better.

Of course, that seemed to be some other person's idea as well. She got an anxiety when someone liked to drive too close to the tail of her car. Her blood started to boil when headlights were glaring in her rearview mirror. She tried to duck down a little to avoid the bright light. It was night. It was already hard to see.

Why didn't he just go around if it was that big of an issue? Nobody else was around. After a while it started to freak her out a little. Why was he tailing her like his?

She tried her best to ignore it. She decided to take a quick turn down another road, wondering if she was being followed. The car didn't skip a beat, turning on the same road, and was on her tail again.

She was propelled forward, her head almost smacking against her steering wheel. The car had rammed into the back of her. Hard. It was some sort of truck. A lot bigger than her car, so force must have felt like nothing to them. Her mind told her to speed up, and her heart felt like it had gone down into her stomach.

It was then the car rammed her again before she could get too far away. She stepped on the gas and her car tires screeched as sped up. She'd never felt like she'd ever gone this fast before in her car. Fear overtook her more than anything.

She didn't get far enough away as the the driver hit the back of her car again, smashing the windows in the back, causing her to swerve off into a ditch. The last thing she saw was a bright flash of light as her forehead smacked her steering wheel, and then she felt nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

(( update 12/21 : More edits. Made the wording better! ))

R ~~~

Rachel awoke to a sharp pain in her arm and the horrible sound of her car horn blaring as her head had met with her steering wheel. She couldn't help the groan that escaped past her lips in response to the pain that awaited her as she sat herself up. It felt as though her whole body had been smashed through multiple brick walls. Though she honestly had no idea what that felt like.

The first thing she noticed as she opened her eyes was she was moving. The whole vehicle was being moved. Dragged, more like.

Her sight was still coming back to her, objects still slightly blurry as she tried to open her eyes fully. In front of her was her deflated, useless airbag and her windshield was completely smashed. Most of the windows on all sides of her car were shattered by the looks of it.

She glanced to the pain in her arm, noticing a long shard of metal debris sticking out through the muscle of her shoulder. There was a good amount of blood dripping from it as well. It wasn't huge, but it was enough damage to make her feel faint at the sight. She then wondered how long she'd been passed out.

She gritted her teeth, taking hold of the metal im her arm as best as she could and pulled it out. Once it was out, an explosion of pain came with it. More blood was seeping out, and it was not as small a gash as she'd thought it'd been previously.

It was time to get out of here.

Her car was moving backwards, at a high angle from the back end near the trunk. She tried to open her car door, struggling since it was so beaten up. She began to wonder if her car had rolled down a hill. A big hill. It would make more sense as to why she felt so hurt. She still didn't know what exactly was all injured yet… but honestly nothing felt good.

Rachel dislodged her foot from under her seat and bashed her heel against the door. The first few kicks did nothing. It took a few more good kicks until she could get it to swing open. When it was open, she quickly dove out, tumbling onto the ground. She was nowhere close to a road anymore, nor a ditch, but in a field.

She tried to collect herself after the hard fall, looking back at what was pulling on her car.

The night was dark, but the moon was able to cast enough light to illuminate a large structure. A giant humanoid shaped, mechanical being. It had been dragging her car with her inside still. Glowing red eyes looked her way.

She shrieked, inhaling loudly at the sight of the being. The wind suddenly felt knocked out of her. Her legs felt as though they had turned into jelly as she tried to pick herself up and run.

The giant dropped the car onto the ground and strolled towards her, it's loud footfalls crashing down onto the ground with a loud thuds.

She scrambled away in her best effort. Once she was up again, she ran, stumbling in her attempt. The footfalls grew faster and she screamed. A deathly cold, tight grip came around her body, squeezing her. She was lifted and in the grasp of the giant machine.

For a brief moment, she was able to get a look at it closely. A robot. A very big robot. She noticed parts of its body had car parts attached. She didn't fully grasp what that meant.

"The harder you make this, the more painful it will be, human. Stop squirming or I will squish you. Parts I am allowed to squish, that is." a voice sounded from the being. It's voice was jagged and alien to her, ringing as it spoke, sounding mechanical. There was nothing like it she could compare it to.

She fumbled, trying to pull herself from it's grasp, ignoring it's threat. It's grasp only grew tighter the more she struggled. Her arm was getting worse, the blood flow hadn't even stopped a little since she'd removed that metal piece.

"What the hell are you?" she shrieked at it.

"Just shut up and-." The robot stopped mid sentence, standing a bit straighter than before as if it were alerted by something.

She didn't know what he was startled by, but she let out a scream, and as loud as she could. It would be her only hope to get out of whatever mess this was. This had to be a bad dream.

The sound of a loud rev of an engine speeding up could be heard in the distance. It was coming their way.

She looked over her shoulder towards the sound and watched as the machine's other arm shifted into a large gun, pointed at the vehicle coming towards them. It was recognizable as a gun, but it felt alien to her.

She watched as the giant released multiple shots towards the car, feeling the burning heat of the gun from such a close proximity. She watched the car completely transform into a similar being in structure, tumbling to the side to avoid the incoming blast. Another one?

The robot came charging into the one that held her, dodging another blast, and toppling it over. As it fell, it lost its grasp on her, and she landed on the ground not so nicely again. She was then able to get her footing once more and make a dash for it. She had to find her phone, and try to call someone. Running wouldn't really help. They would catch her easily. She didn't dare look back at what was going on behind her. From the loud sounds of metal smashing metal, she could make a good guess they were fighting. She didn't know why and she wasn't going to stick around to find out who the winner would be.

Once she got to her smashed up car, she opened up the crumbling door she had bashed open previously and looked around for her purse in the other seat of the car. She crawled around, the ceiling of her car seeming to have gotten smashed down from the crash as well. She found her purse wedged underneath the dashboard of the passenger's seat, pulling it out frantically and searching for her phone. Once she had it out, she desperately dialing for 911. It was all she could think of. She panicked when her phone wasn't ringing. She had no service. She was in the middle of nowhere. It made sense.

By the time she had tried then calling the police again, the sounds of the two robots' brawl had ceased. She paused what she was doing, afraid to look up. Her whole body shook uncontrollably. The second robot that had attacked the other stood over her, looking down at her curiously.

She inhaled a breath, almost forgetting how to breathe in the moment. But the first thing it said shocked her.

"You okay?" It asked her. She didn't wait for another second to try and run again, grabbing her bag and dashing between the robot's legs and running towards the road in the distance. She heard the sound of the robot's body turning to watch her pathetically run. "Hey, wait a second…"

She was surprised at the way this thing talked to her, but she just wanted to get out of there. Maybe she could get service closer to the road? Or find a building.

"Wait! Are you planning on running all the way home?" it called after her. It didn't run after her like the other, but it could probably easily catch her if it wanted to.

"Leave me alone!" she screamed at it loudly. She didn't know what else to do in the situation. It was then she felt herself growing weak very quickly She starting to feel dizzy the more she ran. Her vision was starting to get dark, sort of like a dark tunnel with a light at the end. Running probably wasn't the best thing to do when she already lost so much blood. And she didn't know what other kind of injuries she had from the crash. It wasn't long after her body collapsed. She landed on the ground, face first into the dirt, out cold.

##

B ~~~

'She's so fragile.' Bumblebee thought to himself, carefully wrapping the bandage around the human's arm. He knew he was definitely big enough to crush her, but he was smaller than the others so that he could do something like this at least.

"The area around you is secure, Bee. Just stay where you are for now. I'll let you know if anything pops up." he heard Arcee over his comms.

"Right." he replied. "Were you able to reach the others?"

"They're on standby. A groundbridge is ready if necessary. But we hope it doesn't come to that. If you need to make contact, Optimus is alright with it. Do what you think is best."

This was definitely a predicament he was in. 'She could wake up at any time and try to run again. And more decepticons could show up.' His orders had been to keep a distance from her this whole time and observe. Of course the one time he had been a bit too far off, the Decepticons had decided to act. They had probably been tracking his every move to find an opening. He blamed himself for this mess.

Bee decided to take shelter in some sort of human building. It was in the middle of nowhere, but humans definitely lived nearby. There was a lot of stringy type bundles everywhere as well as some animals kept in confined areas. As awkward as all this was, it was the best he could do for now. There was no way he'd have been able to treat her wound any easier way. He couldn't exactly be a car and do this. His only way of hiding...

He had her propped up against some of the stacks of dry looking grass. He took the moment to scan her over, checking her vitals. Her breathing was stable thankfully and her injury was now wrapped up. He'd sealed the wound with something Ratchet had given him. Supposedly it helped adhere. It was also supposedly safe for humans.

She had a good amount of bruises, gashes, and a small fracture in her skull, but all he could really take care of is the bleeding. He wasn't an expert on humans yet, especially not their health. He honestly didn't understand at first why Ratchet had given him a human medical kit, but now it made sense after all this time. Ratchet, once again, thought further ahead than he did. Humans were much more feeble than their kind.

The bleeding had finally stopped and her heart rate had gone down. He couldn't help but examine the creature that laid before him. This was the first time he had ever seen a human so close. Never had he actually touched one before. They were squishy and delicate. He had researched most humans by talking to Optimus, who seemed to have studied them much more than him. Bee only knew a few things about them through observation over the past few days, but he was otherwise clueless. He guessed it was time to start doing more research on his own.

One thing that bothered him the most were the strange articles of fabric the humans always wore around them. What were they exactly and why did they wear them?

Maybe it would be a question for another day. If there is going to be another day. He still didn't know how she would react when she'd see him again. Or how she would act waking up at all. She will remember everything she saw.

He became frantic when he saw her move a bit. He looked up from her, shuffling around in the building to try and hide. His instincts told him to transform to hide, as that was the only thing he could really think to do.

#

R ~~~

Rachel felt the sting and ache of her arm, which was the first thing to rouse her. Her vision was blurred at first as she opened her eyes, only being able to see hints of light. Once she could see properly, she was able to make out that the light was coming from outside through windows and cracks in a building she was in. Building?

She sat up quickly, holding her head and gritting her teeth at the horrible headache it gave her. She held her head with her hand, slowly trying to take in her surroundings. What she could see made her believe she was in some sort of barn.

She gasped as she felt a poke at her arm and she stood up quickly. Probably quicker than she should've, as her head began to pound again. Relief washed over her when she saw she'd been against a bale of hay. It made her itchy. That was when she noticed the bandage on her arm.

She looked around again. The only thing she could hear was loud chirping of crickets from outside and the creaking of the large wooden building against the brief wind.

She took a deep breath to relax herself a little. She had to stay calm. The first thing she needed was to figure out was how to get out of here.

She looked around in the dark, wondering if there was someone nearby. The first thing that came to mind was that second robot that had shown up from before. Had she been taken by it?

"Hello?" she called out softly, afraid of who or what was going to answer. She waited, and heard nothing.

With her courage dwindling, she took in a shaky breath and walked over towards a door to try and open it. The door was locked from the outside. She raised her voice to a shout. "Hello? Is anyone out there?" she hammered her fist on the door and jiggled the handle a bit.

When she figured nobody was outside either, she gave up on the door. She then spotted a large garage door. One you could manually open and close. She went to try and lift it, struggling before she realized the whole door had been derailed on its tracks. It was going to be impossible to try and lift it, especially with her hurt shoulder. She banged her fist on it a couple of times. Still nothing.

There had to be a tool somewhere she could use to smack the handle of the door. Would it maybe break it enough to open? She wasn't going to sit around to find out what was going on. All she wanted was to go home.

Exploring the barn some more, she was able to find a light switch.

A single bulb light flickered on above her and casted a bit more light through the building.

Once the light was on, she noticed a vehicle was parked in the corner of the building. She recognizing it to be the car from before. The one that had turned into that second robot. This time she was able to see it a bit more clearly. It was a yellow muscle car, with a black stripe going down the center. It was definitely the one from earlier.

She gulped down her nerves, trying to remain calm. Was it watching her?

She decided to go a little closer. It did save her from that other robot from before. And it hadn't tried to hurt her like the other one did. She got within a foot of the car, one of the doors closest to her opened, startling her.

"Hello?" she called out again, staring cautiously into the cabin of the car.

There was a silence before she heard a voice speak up. "You're not going to scream again, are you?" It asked.

"What are you?" she asked, her voice cracking near the end.

There was another pause before she could hear the voice again. "I guess you could call me an alien. That's what you humans call things from space, right?"

"An alien?" the word lingered in her head, not sitting on her tongue quite right either. Even before when the robot had attacked her from before, she thought it could be a possibility. Maybe a secret military weapon of a sort. But aliens? And robot alien, of all things.

Her mouth parted to speak, but before she could say another word, the car before her shifted into an anthropomorphic shape. Before her was a large robot, it's body having been formed from the very parts of the car itself.

"You're an alien." She repeated to herself, staring up at the robot in awe. She didn't realize that her jaw hung open as she gawked at the figure. When it knelt down, she bounced out of her shock, closing her mouth. It had knelt so it was eye level with her. She found it's bright blue eyes to be entrancing at first glance. She had never seen anything like it. "Why did you bring me here?" she asked.

"I thought it would be safe here to treat your wounds." It's gaze looked to her shoulder, to the bandage she assumed it had put on her. She had forgotten all about her wound and took a moment to look over the structure of this being. It had human features she could relate to. Eyes, a mouth, two hands, two legs. Some human features...

"Why did you save me?" She finally asked. A strange sensation in her legs were beginning to make them feel wobbly. It was like her knees were quaking and she couldn't get them to stop.

"My job is to keep you safe. Remember the bot you saw earlier?"

"Yeah…?"

"Well, I am supposed to protect you from situations like what just happened this evening. Unfortunately, I was a little behind."

She felt like she was trying to swallow down a stone in her throat. "Do you know my name?" It was a strange question, but it would clear some things up. How much did it know about her.

The robot's head gave a small tilt as it spoke to her. "You're Rachel Davidson, correct?"

"Y-Yes, that's definitely me. So what do you want with me?"

"You're important. We're looking for something, and you're important to finding it. That's really all I can say right now about it." he explained. That wasn't exactly the answer she wanted, and it didn't quench the worry inside her. And orders? So he was some sort of soldier?

"Orders?" she asked.

"From my leader. I'm on this planet with others of my kind. The other you saw tonight, they're apart of another group. We aren't on very good terms." he explained to her.

She was left speechless for a short moment, trying to process this information.

"You understand this is all a bit weird to me, right?"

The face of the robot contorted a little, a strange expression on its face, but he seemed humored by her words. "You'll just have to trust me. I'm not here to hurt you."

Rachel took a deep breath, and remained quiet for a few more moments. For a robot, it seemed very human like. Like it had emotions and thoughts. Especially in the way it talked. It definitely didn't act like your stereotypical robot, or honestly how an alien would act.

"You say there are more of you out there? Here on Earth?"

"Yes. I can tell you more, but we should get you home, don't you think? I was able to tend your wounds as best as I could, but my medical skills won't guarantee that it will heal on its own. And I'm sure your mother will be worried as well."

Rachel then felt her heart sink at the mention of her mother. "You… How do you-?"

The robot cut her off quickly. "I might have peeked at your communication device while you were asleep…"

She felt her face turn beet red. Why did it have to go and do that? That had some personal stuff on it.  
She watched as the robot made its way towards the garage door that had been derailed and lifted it with ease, but breaking it further beyond repair. Once the door was open, metal pieces shifted around the robot's body until it formed the familiar car from before. The passenger side door opened for her once finished.

"Let's just get you home." she heard from the radio. "I will explain what I can on the way there." The way it spoke was somewhat reassuring. She just wanted to go home.

She hesitated as she got into the car and took a seat, the door closing behind her. Her head was still pounding whenever she moved drastically, so sitting quickly made her feel woozy. Swinging her head around too much or just standing up too quickly gave her tunnel vision. It was probably one of the reasons she had passed out from running before.

The car roared it's engine and it sped off before she could even get situated. She hastily grabbed for the seatbelt and clicked it on, not too sure how well this robot could drive.

Rachel slunk back into the seat. She was able to finally relax as they got onto the road again. Though it felt a bit awkward to her. She was sitting inside a car that was actually an alien robot. Weird.

It's voice came from the radio system."Do you still have questions you want to ask?"

She stuttered at first, needing to collect her thoughts to form a question. "Who are the others? The ones that came to earth with you?"

"There is a group of us. You'll meet them eventually. The one that wrecked your car is apart of the other group I told you about earlier."

"What is the difference between the two groups? Why do you hate each other?" she asked, fiddling with her bag in her lap.

"It's a long story. The short version is we've been fighting in a war for millennia against them. Our planet was destroyed long ago because of this war."

Planet? War? Millennia? She was still trying to take in the whole alien aspect. This was a heap to take in. "Say that I was actually taken by that other robot from before? They wouldn't be as friendly as you?"

"No, they wouldn't." his answer was short, but it was enough for her to figure it out. She really didn't want to know details. The less she had to freak out about. That didn't mean she wasn't scared though. Not after what had happened to her that evening. At least now she had some sort of 'protection', if she could really call it that. She didn't know how much she could trust this thing yet, but from what she could tell right now, it seemed it meant well. It hadn't hurt her yet.

There was a long silence between them. All that could be heard was the roar of the engine and few cars passing by on the road. It was getting close to three in the morning.

Maybe she would ask more questions later, but right now she wanted to think. This was all a lot to take in. She wanted to figure out if this was a dream. If it was, she'd wake up and things would be back to normal. She tried the whole 'pinch yourself to wake up' trick, but that definitely wasn't working, no matter how hard she tried it. She'd have to accept that this was a strange reality she was in now. And she'd have to figure out how to lie to her mom about this.


	3. Chapter 3

** Update 12/22: More edits!

Chapter 3

Rachel woke up the next morning at home. She felt like she'd barely slept, even though she'd been so tired when she finally got home and into bed. She still hoped it was all just a dream, but by the look at the bandage on her arm, it definitely made that answer clear.

She sat up from bed and began rubbing at her head. She probed her fingers carefully over her scalp, trying to feel for signs of injury. There was a distinct bruising pain at the front of her head , and she was sure there was a dark blue mark where it was. She wasn't too sure how to treat a concussion on her own. She just hoped it wasn't her dark hair would conceal it.

She carefully stood and checked the time by her alarm clock. It was almost noon. She made her way out of her room, determined to get on with the day. Her mother had been frantic when she arrived home so late. During the drive home, she made up a story about her car not starting at Elaine's. Her explanation for her arm was she cut it when trying to look at her car engine. She told her she then stayed the night there and Elaine drove her home early in the morning because she had work. Rachel was thankful she didn't ask too many questions, but there were still enough of them to frazzle her. She was just thankful the lie worked as well as it did.

Once she was in the kitchen, she looked around for her mother in the living room. She was there, on the couch watching TV and eating some lunch.

"Sorry I slept in so late." Rachel said quietly as she walked up behind her, looking at whatever she was watching. More news.

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up. Do you need a ride to Elaine's place later to pick up your car?" she asked, taking a bite of her meal. "I was wondering if we might need to get it towed."

'We'll need to do more than tow it,' she thought.

"Uh… no, she said she would pick me up on her way home today." she lied, her stomach churning in her anxiety. She would have to be careful to not mix something up. The robot from before had told her it would meet with her again this morning to check on her. She knew she'd have to explain to her mother somehow about how her car was totaled. "I'll figure it out, don't worry. Maybe her boyfriend can take a look at it."

"She's such a good girl. You're lucky you have found such a nice friend." her mom didn't break her focus away from the TV.

Rachel walked on back to the kitchen with a need to fill her stomach. She opened the fridge, a small smile coming to her face at the sight of a sandwich wrapped in saran wrap. "Thank you, mom." she called to her from the kitchen, taking the sandwich and unwrapping it. She went to go sit by the couch with her, indulging in whatever she was watching. She needed this simple comfort after what happened the night before. But to be fair, the news wasn't doing her much good. The commotion around town from the recent meteors had really stirred people up. She began to put the pieces together after last night.

"Did you and Elaine at least have fun yesterday? Besides the car problems." her mother asked, not paying as close attention to the TV as Rachel thought she was.

"Yeah, we did. We went out to eat then went to her house to watch a movie. I really don't know why she chose such an old, cheesy horror movie this time though." she gave a small shrug of her shoulders as she began munching on her meal.

"Sometimes old movies are classic. Even if they are cheesy, they're still fun sometimes." her mother explained.

"The guy who was in the alien outfit didn't even look like an alien though! It looked like a green screen suit." she went to take a bite of her sandwich as she was laughing lightly.

"How would you know? Have you ever seen an alien before?"

Rachel choked a bit, coughing and trying to clear her throat. She stole her mother's drink next to the couch to get her food down.

"You alright?" Her mother laughed softly, patting her back. "What was that about?"

"Didn't expect… this kind of cheese I guess." she coughed, looking down at her sandwich. She felt like such an idiot.

"But it's the kind you like. What's wrong with it?"

"I guess I forgot how sharp it was."

Her mother was studying her over, looking at a few marks she had neglected to hide along her collarbone from some debris of the crash.

"Did something happen last night? You seem off today. Like something is upsetting you." She reached forward, hoping to look at the wound on her arm.

Rachel edged away, not wanting her to look too closely. "Don't touch it. It hurts." she said, hoping the excuse would work. It did hurt, so it wasn't technically a lie either.

Her mom let out a small sigh. Her brows were knit with concern. "You can tell me, you know." The look on her face made her heart sink. The last thing she wanted from her mother was for her to worry. Even if she did try to explain it to her, she wouldn't understand. She wasn't really sure if she could tell anyone about the situation.

"I'm fine, mom. Really." Rachel said, looking to her with a small smile, hoping it would be enough to get her to relax.

Her mother stared at her for a few seconds, looking her over. She then stood from her spot and went to take her plate to the kitchen. "I need to run some errands today. Want to tag along?" her mom asked.

She tried to stuff her face more with her sandwich. The last thing she wanted was to be away from home after whatever happened the night before. What if another one of those things tried to come after her? And her mother?

"You go ahead. I just want to relax today at home today I think." she responded. There was a silence, and another sigh from her mom.

"Alright then. Just call me if you need me."

After her mother left, Rachel ate her food in silence. When she was finished, she readied herself for that day. She felt wonderful after a hot shower, but it became painful after the hot water came into contact with her wounds. Especially the big cut on her shoulder.

Once she was out of the shower, she took the moment to look at her wound on her arm. It had stopped bleeding a while ago thankfully. There seemed to be an adhesive on the wound to keep it shut to heal. Whatever it was, it was working. Another good reason she wanted to keep it hidden from her mother. She really didn't know how to explain that part. Elaine put glue in my arm and closed it!

She scrounge around the house for a first aid kit, getting a new bandage to put on it. Her mother didn't need to see how truly bad the damage was. The area around the wound was discolored of purples and blacks from internal bleeding. It wasn't a pretty sight.

She decided to take some painkillers to help keep the pain at bay. She might be able to see a doctor, but she'd have to come up with another lie. That wasn't going to be the best idea.

After changing and drying her hair, she peeked outside past the blinds of her bedroom window. Her mom's car was gone, but there was that familiar yellow car from the other night parked down the street a bit. She was determined to talk to it again. It had told her to not tell anyone about the situation before it had dropped her off. But to be fair, nobody would believe her even if she said anything, so that wasn't going to be a problem trying to convince her to keep her mouth shut.

She wanted to ask it more questions. If giant robots were after her, she wanted to know why. She wasn't anything extraordinary to her recollection.

She slipped her shoes on and made her way out the door. The car was already pulled up into the driveway.

Rachel paused at first, looking around to make sure nobody was outside in her neighborhood to witness her. Her words broke past her lips with hesitance.

"Good morning." She still wasn't used to talking to a car.

The door closest to her opened, the familiar voice speaking from the radio.

"Good morning. You seem better today." It spoke.

"I don't really feel any better, honestly." she shifted her gaze to the concrete ground as she spoke. "How long have you been out here?"

"I've been around since I dropped you off last night. I never left."

Rachel felt her heart drop into her stomach. Why didn't it leave? Had it been watching her this entire time? How long since they came to this planet anyway?

She shoved that thought aside and continued. "I don't think I thanked you for last night so… thank you." Those words came out as awkwardly as she thought they would.

"You're welcome. But you really don't have to thank me though."

Rachel struggled at what to say. How was she supposed to talk to an alien exactly? She had so many questions she wanted to ask, but perhaps this wasn't the appropriate place yet for that.

"I sent word to my leader last night about what happened. He wants to meet you, if you're okay with it. Our medic also wants to take a look at your fracture."

"Would it not be okay for me to go to a human doctor?" she asked, that pit in her stomach still making her knees want to shake a little again. How many more of them were there?

"We would prefer to keep this quiet. The less human interference, the better. And it gives you less to worry about too, right?"

"Right." She had reason to be cautious, but up until now the robot had been nothing but kind to her. The way he had talked to her the other night still reassured her. He answered all her questions, he'd taken her home, and he'd saved her life too. And since when did she decide to call the robot a he?

But that still left her without a car, and in need of an explanation for how it had gotten wrecked. She wasn't sure what happened to it, but it couldn't hide forever in an open field. "And what about my car?" she asked.

"We moved it."

'Moved it where?' she wanted to ask, but refrained from delving into that bit right now.

She took a deep breath and went over and sat inside the car, closing the door herself when she was situated. "Can you take me to them now?"

"Now?"

"Mhm." she said, trying her hardest to feel confident in this.

After a couple seconds, the car pulled out of the driveway. She was told the drive there would be up to about an hour, so she tried to relax a bit. It would be a good time to bug the robot with more questions.

"Can I ask you something else?" she sat back in her seat.

"Sure." he answered back. "What is it?"

"What's your name?" she asked him.

"Call me Bumblebee."

She paused a brief moment, and a small smile came to her lips. "Very fitting." It was weird, but she would go with it for now. "So, Bumblebee, do you plan to watch me from here on out?"

"If things are going the way they are now, then yes. I wasn't planning on meeting you so soon but the Decepticon that attacked you last night gave me no choice."

"Decepticon?" she asked, testing the word on her tongue.

"The group I'm a part of are called the Autobots. We call the ones who attacked you the Decepticons." Another fitting name, she thought.

"Okay, well… I still want to know why I'm needed in all this." she said, looking towards the radio as the robot talked.

"Yes, right… Optimus will explain that more when you meet him. But what I can tell you currently is that you are important. You are someone that can help us."

"And if I got into the hands of this other group, they would use me for that same reason, right?"  
"Yes."

She wondered what exactly would have happened if she'd been captured by that other robot. Would they have tried to kill her eventually? From the way he talked about them, they didn't seem friendly. Though after how she had been treated by the other the previous night, it made her very clear their intentions. She hoped she wouldn't have to run into them again. Not soon, anyway.

* * *

"Rachel, we're here."

She lifted herself from the seat to look out of the window. They were in the middle of nowhere. The middle of nowhere in the Nevada desert. Many mountains could be seen in the distance, along with many large rock formations around the area.

They were hidden inside a valley between two large canyons.

The valley was filled with shrubs and bushes. It was a much more lush area compared to the rest of the desert. She loved this area, but she wished she was here for sightseeing rather than finding out about some robot aliens.

He had been driving down a long dirt road for a good half hour. They were definitely away from civilization wherever they were. She wasn't even sure she would get cellular service out here.

He came to a stop once he reached the valley. She noticed how secluded and hidden the area was around them. It would be ideal for giant robots, she thought.

The door opened for Rachel and she stumbled out. The dry heat struck her immediately, making her want to return to the nice, cool air conditioning.

Behind her, Bumblebee transformed into his robotic from. She turned to watch, still in awe of the process. Amazing. Seeing the mechanized being in his true form seemed to take her breath away. It was incredible to her.

Bumblebee stepped around her and made his way towards one of the walls of the canyon. She followed after him, watching whatever he was doing, while also making an attempt not to trip on anything. This wasn't an ideal hiking spot.

"Did you hide everything inside some rocks?" she asked.

Bumblebee turned his head to look down at her. "We have to be a little more hidden than just be automobiles all the time. Besides, we had to hide our ship somewhere too."

"A ship?"

She heard a small chuckle from him, his cheeks raised in a smile. "You're surprised?"

Rachel jumped to a loud noise. Two parts of the cliff wall split apart, unmasking a large door that began to slide upwards, revealing a large underground bunker.

"So this is Rachel?" she heard a voice approaching the both of them. A larger robot approached them. Rachel was stunned at how small Bumblebee was comparatively. How big did these things get?

"Rachel, this is Ratchet. He is our medical officer. He was also the one who requested you come today." Bumblebee explained.

"Ratchet?" she repeated. She noticed the car bits that surrounded his body. It looks like an ambulance or emergency vehicle of some sort. How very fitting for this robot being a medic. "It's nice to meet you."

"How's your head?" Ratchet inquired, crossing his arms. She watched as he looked over her, as if scanning her body. It felt a little awkward.

"I feel dizzy if I move too fast. My shoulder is what hurts the most, though." she said, looking to her shoulder at the newer bandage she'd put on earlier.

"Your shoulder is healing fine. The hairline fracture in your skull needs more attention."

She pouted a little. "But it still hurts…"

"It'll be alright. Give it a few days and some pain suppressants, then you'll be feel better." There was a small silence, and she began to wonder how much this guy knew about human medicine.

"I told you I could do it~" Bumblebee quipped to the other. It was the first time she really had seen such a personality from him. It really changed the perspective on everything.

"Don't start with me, Bumblebee." he turned on his heel and walked back inside the facility. "Come on in. Optimus is waiting for you both."

Bumblebee turned his attention back upon Rachel as she stared, watching the other bot walk off. He began making his way in with Ratchet, waving for her to follow him. She felt like she was going to fall forward rather than actually start walking. But she caught up to him and stayed close to him. She didn't know him, but he was somewhat familiar. It was all she had to hold onto right now for courage in this.

She took in a deep breath as they both walked through the large, hidden bunker, making his way through multiple large doors that opened automatically as he got close to them.

"Doing alright?" she heard him ask after a few moments of silence. She looked up towards him, seeing his large blue eyes staring down at her.

"Yeah… just a lot to take in." she said, turning her attention back to her surroundings. "Are the others nice like you?"

She heard Bee laugh lightly at her question. "Yes. Ratchet is a cranky old bot. Don't take it personally if he gets a little agitated."

Up ahead she could hear the voice of the older robot call to them. "You know, for a cranky old bot, I can still hear! Quite well, in fact!"

Her stomach flopped at hearing that. "I'm making a good first impression, huh?"

"Heh, like I said, don't take it personally." his voice was lower than before, but he remained in good humor.

Comparatively to what she was used to, everything was huge. A perfect size for their kind it seemed. But whatever was awaiting her, she didn't feel like she was prepared for it.

They had reached a large room, filled with machinery Rachel had never seen before. Large screens and control panels were the only familiar thing to her, but what information they were portraying, she couldn't comprehend. The whole room was sleek, and filled with technology that far surpassed humans. And it looked like this machinery had only recently been added. At the center of the room were three new robots.

Rachel stared cluelessly at the three of them. She could feel her legs getting wobbly on her again.

Bumblebee was looking at Rachel again, as if watching her reaction to what was going on in front of her. Her gaze was fixated on the tallest robot in the room. "Rachel, this is our leader, Optimus Prime." he told her.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Rachel." the tall, noble robot spoke. He was definitely the largest of any of the robots she'd seen. What a name though. Optimus Prime.

"Hello…" she felt like it came out as more of a squeak than a word.

"Did you bring a rodent or a human with you, Bumblebee?" she heard one of the others speak.

"That's Ironhide, you can ignore whatever he says." the shorter of the two spoke.

"Arcee and Ironhide." Bumblebee clarified.

She looked to the short one. Her metal pieces a deep blue in color. She was much shorter compared to all of them. Including Bumblebee. Each of these robots seems to be unique in their own way. Each had their own personality. It made sense to her now after having met Bumblebee and learning how he acted. It was simply amazing to her that such beings existed.

"She's not what I imagined she'd look like. Then again, all you humans look pretty unique, right?" The one named Arcee came down on one knee to look her over. Rachel's face ran red again.

"What were you expecting?" Rachel asked.

"Not sure, really. Humans have a very unique way of personalizing themselves." she was still looking her over quite a bit. She watched a smile appear on Arcee's face. "I thought maybe you'd be just a bit taller?" she laughed softly.

"I'm 5'8". I'm average sized for a human… sort of." Rachel trailed off quietly, wanting to try and defend her shortcomings a little. "You all definitely have a unique way of personalizing yourselves as well." she said, looking between all four of the robots in the room. They were easily distinctable from one another, each having their own look to them.

Arcee gave a small laugh. "We are very similar."

Rachel gave a small smile. These beings amazed her at every step.

"Rachel, I wanted to speak with you personally." the one named Optimus spoke. "I understand this is a peculiar circumstance you've found yourself in."

"Well, that's one way to put it." she looked up towards the large red and blue Autobot. Her neck was going to be stiff after this. "I was told if I came here today, I could get some answers. I don't want to be rude, but I would definitely like an explanation for all of this."

There was a short silence from the tall machine. "I must ask, Rachel. Your medical records suggestion you suffered from amnesia at a young age. What is your earliest memory?"

That wasn't what she was expecting to hear him ask. She didn't like talking about this... "Well…" she thought long and hard, and it was probably not the best thing to do when she had a head injury. "I remember waking up in a hospital. The doctors diagnosed me with amnesia. Supposedly I was found on the side of the road somewhere… Eventually I was adopted. I didn't… have any family."

Optimus was quiet for a while longer before he spoke again. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully, which worried her. "It was amnesia, not how you initially believe it to have happened. I'll put this simply, Rachel, you are not human."


	4. Chapter 4

** Edits: 12/23

Chapter 4

"What?" Rachel choked on the question, feeling as though she couldn't breathe for a moment.

"We shall start from the beginning. Perhaps some things will make more sense as we go." Optimus took a few steps back and looked towards one of the large computers that Ironhide had pressed a button on, bringing up a hologram of another robot she'd never seen before.

Ironhide spoke this time. "A ship crashed onto this planet a long time ago, one of our kind carrying information about a device. They were able to infiltrate a Decepticon scientist's lab back on our home planet and retrieve data on this device, all the while deleting any copies from the original source. We aren't sure exactly what it is fully capable of yet. It was never tested on our home planet. But…" He looked over towards Optimus.

"We believe you to be one of our fallen comrades who landed on this planet those many years ago."

Rachel was silent, trying to think of this logically without overwhelming herself.

"So you say this thing made me? What am I then?"

Arcee chimed in this time. "You are technically human. But you are…" there was a strange pause, as if she were searching for the correct words. "-an artificially created human. Originally you were apart of a science team's ship that crashed on Earth long ago. We think one of the members of this team was able to recreate this device. And when that time came around, you were its first test subject."'

"We think this contraption was able to construct an artificial human and implant the spark of a cybertronian, our race, in it."

"Why did they want to become human?" she asked. Her head felt like it was pounding, her nerves shot, and mind racing.

Arcee answered again. "Curiosity probably. We believe it is capable of many things, which is why we want to get our hands on it before the Decepticons do. Assumedly the prototype device was destroyed on impact, we hope, but… we believe we will be able to find your previous body and locate this data."

"How?" she asked. "I-I'm just a normal human… I thought. But…" She was starting to panic.

"We have a location scouted out. It's a lead, it small, but it's something." Bumblebee said behind her. She turned to now realize he was crouched down behind her.

Rachel felt dizzy suddenly. "Hold on a second…"

She heard the familiar voice of the older bot from before. Ratchet interrupted abruptly, walking into the large room. "I've told you all already about her fracture and you still drive her stress levels up. Honestly, sometimes I feel like I need to monitor you all even though I gave you all basic instructions. Including you Optimus."

"There is no easy way to go about this situation. I would prefer the information be in the open to her. Her trust is crucial during this time." Optimus replied, "Though I do apologize, Rachel. I am sure this is a lot of information to take in."

Rachel looked up to him curiously, not having expected an apology. "It's okay. I wanted to know. That's why I came here, right? For answers. I didn't know what kind of answers I was expecting but… I didn't expect this."

"Bumblebee, Arcee, why don't you take her outside for a moment. It might be best if she gets some air." Ratchet said to the two of them. "And I'll be waiting when you are back." The medic bot then walked off once more.

* * *

"I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight knowing these things now." Rachel was mumbling a bit, but the both of them could still hear her. "Can I just say no and go back to my human life?"

"You could go back to your life after this and things could return to normal." Arcee explained to her. The three of them sat outside the main entrance while Rachel chugged down a bottle of water she'd brought along, feeling a little better after the refreshment.

"I don't know how normal it would be knowing what I know now." Rachel said.

"You could become one of those weird human conspiracy theorists I keep seeing on the internet." Bumblebee said. "Try to get this world to believe there are aliens out there."

It got a small snort from Rachel, but Arcee glared at him. "Bee, that's not helping."

"How do you even know about that kind of stuff?" Rachel asked, looking up in his direction. It made her wonder what other kinds of things they knew about them.

"The internet is a rich source of information about you humans. It doesn't take too long to find the juicy stuff. Though I do notice you humans are particularly fascinated by your own mating displays. Doesn't take too long to find that either… It seems half the internet is filled with it."

Rachel choked as she was drinking, needing a second to compose herself from almost coughing up a lung. Her face was incredibly red now.

"You shouldn't look too much at that stuff…" she hoped he wouldn't go on. He did continue, making her bite the inside of her cheek.

"It's important, isn't it? Do all humans have such a high fascination with their own reproduction?"

She wanted to curl up and die right there. "It's important, yes, but it's not something people openly talk about…"

"Have you ever engaged in human mating?"

She froze up, feeling like she couldn't get herself to breathe for a moment. Her heart felt like it was in her throat now. The answer was no, but it was none of his business anyway.

"Bee…" she said simply, giving him a look of disapproval.

"Bumblebee, you're upsetting the human. Stop it. Don't pry." Arcee stood from her spot and flicked him on the head before she walked back in the underground bunker. "I'm going to grab Ratchet. I'll let him know you both are coming."

"What is Ratchet going to do to my head anyway?" she asked, wanting to drive the conversation in a new direction. She also genuinely hoped she wasn't about to be in some of alien experiment.

"Just to look it over and make sure it's nothing serious. We want to make sure you're healthy." Bumblebee clarified, standing himself up as well.

"How much would a robot doctor know about a human exactly?" she asked with a small laugh.

"Ratchet has studied a bit of it for this purpose. At least I would imagine so. He's stubborn sometimes, but he means well in what he does." He knelt down, laying his arm out with his palm against the ground. She stared at him, not sure what he was wanting for her to do. He gave her the idea when he patted his shoulder. "Hop on so you don't tire yourself out. The place is bigger than you think."

She gave him an unsure look, coming over can climbing up his arm until she found a spot on his shoulder. Her legs hung down over his chest, holding onto the side of his head as he stood up straight. As scary as this was, it was probably the coolest thing she'd ever experienced. Though she was a little embarrassed by their proximity to one another. His head was right there.

Once they entered back into the bunker, it didn't take long to get to the medic's area. A large angled table laid at the center of the room, filled with even more consoles and monitors with data on them that she didn't understand. Their language and alphabet was incomprehensible to her.

"Sit down on that table there." she heard that familiar voice again. She went wide-eyed when she was picked up by Bumblebee and placed down on the table. It was definitely an experience to be handled like that.

She felt something cold against the back of her head, which ached a bit like it usually did when she moved around too much. "There better not be needles…" she said under her breath.

"No needles, just a scan." Ratchet said. He had some sort of tool that he was looking through. She could just barely watch him from the corner of her eye.

"What is that, if I may ask?"

"It lets me see your bone structure. I suppose it works like the electromagnetic radiation scans you humans use." he explained, not breaking his focus on her head.

"Like an X-Ray machine?"

"Whatever you call it. Yes." he stepped away from her and to one of his consoles. "Your fracture is small. Something called a hairline fracture. It will heal on its own with time. You just need rest. And lots of it."

"How will I be able to do that if I'm attacked again?"

"We will be sure that doesn't happen." she heard another familiar voice enter the room. Optimus. His voice was very distinguishable from anything she'd ever heard.. A very deep and robust voice. He walked in behind Bumblebee. "Bumblebee will be there to watch you, and contact us if anything goes wrong. We have decided it might be best he replace your car for now."

"Replace my car?"

* * *

"I'm sorry if my car isn't very stylish. It's a little embarrassing compared to the car you were before..." she said, sitting in the driver's seat.

"I can turn back whenever, it's fine. Or maybe you could tell your mom you went and got a new car so we could compromise."

"I have nowhere near the money for that to be believable, Bee." she put both hands on her face. "I'm sorry, Bee… This really sucks."

His laughter caught her off guard. "It's like when you humans wear a weird outfit. Really, it's fine."

Bumblebee now looked like her older car that had before been smashed. Her car was a black hatchback chevy. It was older, nothing new. She couldn't afford anything that new anyway. Maybe she could find a way to lie about it to her mom so she could drive around in a muscle car. Maybe. She felt horrible that he had to be such an old, dinky car for her sake.

"So how long will we be together exactly?" she questioned, looking out the window at the cars passed by. It was when she stared too long that she was getting stared back at. She looked like a driver not paying attention.

"Until they can find the crashed ship. That's where they'll be able to find your old body."

She slumped down in her seat, thoughts going back to what she had been told earlier. Part of her wanted to block it out and just forget it completely, but the other half of her was curious. There was so much she didn't know and that she could learn. If it was true that she was once one of these aliens, she wanted to discover who she really was. It was more interesting than the average life she lived day to day.

When she arrived home, her mother's car was back in it's usual spot. She was very determined to keep her mouth shut about all this. Still, nobody would believe her even if she did open her mouth. She'd just sound crazy.

"So, on doctor's orders, get some rest." Bee said to her. She wondered how that was going to work while trying to juggle her schoolwork. She had been taking community classes here and there while she worked. Right now she just worked for her uncle at a greenhouse.

"I'll try, but I do have a life I have to keep living, you know?" she said with a sigh. "Can you pull into the garage, please?"

"Why in the garage?"

"I know for a fact my mom is going to want to look at the car… technically you now I guess." she scratched at the top of her head, feeling a little strange saying that. She was thankful the garage was open at least. He pulled into the garage and she got out once parked.

She heard the garage door leading to the house open, and she played along and went over to pop the hood.

"You got it working?" her mom asked as she stepped into the garage.

"Yeah, Elaine's boyfriend was able to look at it. He said the… belt had been worn down. He got me a new one." she poked at the belt on the top of the engine's belt, getting grease on her finger. A thought crossed her mind, making her face light up. She really hoped she didn't touch something weird on Bumblebee by touching that. She wondered if he had felt it. That thought made her feel very warm inside.

"That was very sweet of him to help you out. Maybe he can work on mine…" Rachel noticed her mother's gaze went to the side of the car, her heart beginning to race. "Did you get it washed too? It looks cleaner than you usually keep it." Her mom walked along the side of it, opening it up to look inside. It did look a lot nicer than what she had it previously.

"I decided to clean it today… after he fixed it. I don't want anything like that happening again so maybe keeping it upkept will be a good change." She knew for a fact she was going to give herself a headache if she kept these lies.

Her mom was giving her a concerned look. "You've been acting so strange lately, Rachel. What's going on? Did something happen yesterday?"

"No, mom, I'm fine. Really." she said, realizing then that she had said it a little more harshly than she would have liked. She took a breath before she continued. "Just been a little stressed. That's all. Stress with school. You know how it is…"

Her mom came forward and wrapped her arms around her, holding her close. "You know I'm here to help you if you need it. Don't feel like you're all on your own." Rachel joined her in the embrace, sighing again. Her mom couldn't even begin to understand how alone she felt.

Though, something pulled at her a little, looking over to Bumblebee hiding as her car. He was really the only one she could talk to.

"I'll be okay." she told her mother, still looking at her car. Her mom gave her a kiss on the forehead before parting and leaving her alone in the garage.

Rachel told her she needed to look over a few more things with the car. Once she was gone she let out a sigh of relief. "Sorry about that, Bee."

"You've gotta stop apologizing for this stuff. Really, it's fine." she heard Bumblebee speak, opening a door for her to hear his voice over the radio.

She stopped herself before she was about to say sorry for apologizing. Bumblebee caught it and it made him laugh a little. "No more apologizing. Okay?" he said.

She gave a nod and a deep breath.

"I made my mom worry more. Now she knows something is definitely up. I don't know what exactly she thinks I'm doing but…" she trailed off a bit, going over to the hood and closing it for him.

"It's normal for her to worry, isn't it? She is your caretaker… er, mother." Bee responded. That made one very strange question pop into her mind.

"Does your race have parents?" Once the question came out, she realized how strange of a question it was.

It didn't seem to bother him like it was for her. "Not like humans, no." he told her.

She was somewhat relieved in a way. If it was true that she was somehow one of their kind, she didn't have to worry about some other family she didn't know about. "Can you tell me a little about your kind? What was your planet like?" She took a seat in the passenger's side that he had opened.

"Our planet is a little harder to compare to this world. Where it's organic and alive here, our planet is mostly machine and metal. We are… we used to be almost like you humans are today. Living normal lives. Being here on this planet reminds me a lot of what it once was like those millions of years ago."

"Millions…?" her mouth hung open as she spoke those words. "How old are you exactly?"

"Maybe around 3 million years old? You lose track after the first million. But I'm one of the younger ones you'll probably ever meet. I'm not too sure how old you are really."

She was afraid to find out. "Did you know me… before all this?" she asked him.

"No, I didn't. At least I don't think so..."

There was a silence. She didn't really know what else she could ask. She knew she was still curious, but nothing that came to her mind made sense. She fiddled around with the material on the corner of the seat. She let in a long breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm her nerves a bit.

Bumblebee broke that silence. "You're taking this pretty well, all things considered…"

She shook her head a little, finding it a little strange he'd say that. She felt the complete opposite. "I'm still not sure I believe all this yet. Maybe that's all that's keeping me together right now."

"Why do you say that?" he asked. She thought it was a silly question, but then again, she'd been asking him some very silly questions today too.

"I was human one day. The next, it turns out I'm something else entirely. All this time searching for parents I never had, or the birthplace I was never born in. It's a bit disappointing, don't you think?" She very quickly wanted to take back what she had just spewed out. It felt like she'd just poured her heart out for a second. Uninvited tears were streaming down her cheeks now. That was going to be a big issue now.

He remained quiet at hearing that. She wasn't sure if he would understand or not.

"I'm sorry, that was a bit much." she hid her face in her arm, wiping away the tears in the process. She didn't want to cry in front of him. "I shouldn't have-"

He cut her off quickly. "Stop apologizing. It's okay if you speak your mind."

She sniffed, feeling pathetic. "I don't want to push my problems onto you. You seem to have enough as it is… no offense."

"That's what friends do, right? We outta start somewhere since we'll be together for a while."

She bit the side of her cheek, surprised by his words. She couldn't help a small laugh escape past her lips though. "Heh, right." she sniffed once more. Friends? It was strange to think the previous night she had thought he wanted to kill her. But it wasn't a bad first step. A part of her wanted to get to know him more. She wanted to know more about what they were and who they were. He would be a good introduction to that, it seemed. "Are you sure you'll be okay with listening to my human blabbering?"

"I'll try to comprehend it as best as I can. I might have to ask a few questions to keep up though." she heard Bumblebee laugh lightly.

"It'll even out my whole questioning thing I have going." she stood from her seat and wiped her arm at her cheeks again, still trying to get the tears to dry.

"It doesn't bother me, you know." he told her. She went to head for the door leading inside the house. Before she went in she looked back to the him, a small, warm smile on her face. "Thank you." she told him, then went inside.

When she stepped inside, her mother wasn't too far away from the garage door, in the kitchen. "Who were you just talking to?" she asked. Rachel felt her heart drop into her stomach.

"N-nobody." she stuttered, her lying seeming to be out of juice now.

"Is it a boyfriend you're keeping hidden from me? Maybe that's why you've been acting so weird." her mom got close to look her over.

"No! No boyfriend. Why would you think that?" Of all the things, her mother was thinking she was seeing someone. To be fair, she would prefer this over some other speculations she could have.

"With a reaction like that, I'm actually curious now." her mom laughed a little. "I'm happy for you, sweety. When can I meet him?"

She didn't know of any way to get herself out of this situation. Maybe she should just roll with it for now.

"Not if you're going to be… listening in on our conversations." Her cheeks ran deep red. This would be the only way to get her mom off her back.

"Ah hah! I knew you were acting funny lately!" Rachel was genuinely surprised how excited her mother looked. Rachel wasn't really into the dating thing yet. She used to when she was in high school sparsely, but didn't much have time for it nowadays. Juggling her schoolwork and job was enough for her to handle. Maybe she was just happy to see her 'dating' again. It would be a good cover at least. "Though that still doesn't explain all your injuries you got that day…" her mother added.

"I'm going to bed early…" she said quietly, walking past her to head back towards her room. She didn't want to start trying to think of another lie. She was exhausted after the goings on of that day. She wanted to relax and think to herself for a while.

"I want to meet him soon!" her mother called after her.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

B ~~~

It had been a few days since Bumblebee had taken Rachel to meet the others. The Autobots seemed pleased with the experience, especially Optimus. He knew the big guy cared a lot about his people, about Cybertron, and the existence of other lifeforms, but to the extent he was going for this human amazed him. Whichever side was able to replicate this device or alter it for restoration of their planet, would be titled heros.

The Decepticons could probably forcibly take this data, or manipulate her in some cruel way to get it back. Optimus Prime refused to take such measures. Rachel was an equal and was to be treated as one of their own. They just needed to get her old body back before the Decepticons could get to her human body first. He still didn't fully understand the plan, which did bother him a little. He just hoped this plan Optimus had worked. As much as Bee enjoyed this planet, he was ready to go home.

Optimus had told him that earning her trust will be necessary if they are to actually make this work. As long as the threat was minimal, she wouldn't need to stay with the Autobots day and night. But who knew how long that would last.

The Decepticons had only recently arrived on Earth. It would be no surprise if they'd recuperated and set up shop somewhere by now. That meant they'd be much more active. He just hoped Rachel would be willing to cooperate with the decisions Optimus would make to keep her safe.

Rachel opened up the driver's side of the door and sat inside, closing it behind her. "I might get used to being driven everywhere. It's like having my own personal chauffeur."

"Chauffeur?" Bumblebee asked her.

"Someone who drives someone around for a living. Usually only famous or rich people get them." she explained. "Didn't get too bored out here, did you?"

They were going about her daily routine of school and then work. Thankfully she just finished up the work stage. He hoped they could just go home now. "Sort of. But I find things to do."

He noticed her clothes and how messy they were. It looked as if her whole body had been covered in dirt briefly. He knew she worked with organic plant life, he just didn't know what exactly she did. She didn't seem too bothered by it, as this must be a daily thing for her.

She bit her lower lip, chewing at it a little. "Now I feel bad…"

"It's fine. Really."

"I'm sor-" she began, but he very quickly stopped her. He was very good at that.

"No apologizing. Primus, you say that too much."

She had opened her mouth but quickly shut it again. She had almost done it again. He laughed a bit, causing that redness to come to her face again.

"Okay, I'm sorry this time." he said through his laughing. "Honestly though, there is are so many things on the internet, I could spend days reading about your kind."

"You can get lost in the wonders that are the internet. But also you can see how weird we humans are too." she laughed softly.

"Oh, I've seen it."

She let out a groan. "Do you actively look for that junk? Bee…"

"It's not my fault you humans like to advertise like rabbid Sharkticons."

She had rolled her eyes. "I bet Cybertronians used to be just as bad." she said.

"That's for me to know, and you to eventually find out~" he teased her. The both of them shared a good laugh.

"But I am definitely ready to get out of here. Where to next?" he asked her.

"Home, please." she told him. She lounged back in her seat, relaxing a bit. "I am ready to sleep for the rest of eternity."

Before he was able to head out of the parking lot, Arcee chimed in on his comms. "Bee, you may want to take a detour. I've spotted a couple of Decepticons in the area. Both are enroute to your location." Rachel had straightened up from hearing her. He knew already she would probably start to panic. Arcee spoke again. "I'm on my way, and Ironhide will be joining me."

He sped up, knowing he'd have to find a way to get out of the city area. He took a detour, off into a road he was more familiar with. If this led to where he was thinking, the easiest way to handle this would be to lead them out of town and take care of them. But that meant jeopardizing Rachel's safety in the process. As much as he wanted to add another Decepticon to the scrap-heap, her safety was priority.

"How close are the both of you?" he asked Arcee.

Ironhide spoke this time. "Just get somewhere and hide, kid. Lay low for now. There's an old power plant near your area you should be able to hide in for a bit."

Bumblebee felt his insides churn. He really didn't like to hide. "Yes, sir." Getting those words out were harder than he thought. He turned his attention back to Rachel. Her face was paler than usual. He did a 180 on the road to head in the opposite direction. Rachel grabbed onto her seat, sucking in air and let out a weird, high pitched sound.

"Please warn me before you do those kinds of things!" she shouted.

He drove a bit of a distance to try and throw the Decepticons off his trail, taking unnecessary longer routes and some hidden shortcuts. When they reached the powerplant, a gate kept them from entering the premises. It was old and run down by the looks of it. A good amount of organic plant matter were overgrowing the area, grasses poking through the cracked pavement and rust was prominent on most of the fencing and metal surfacing. He wondered how old this building was exactly.

"It doesn't look like anyone is here. So why do they gate it off?" Bumblebee asked.

"To keep people out. We probably should try a different-"

Bumblebee cut her off as he sped forward and broke through the weakened gate in front of them.

"Bumblebee! What the hell!" she shrieked.

"I'm sorry. I don't really have a choice right now…" he said as he drove on through the crumbling industrial complex. He sped on towards the back of the large property, hoping it would give them both the cover they needed. There was a big loading bay in the back they could get into. He had her hop out of the car so he could transform to forcefully push the bay door upwards to get it open.

"How long do they want us to stay here?" she asked, examining the area around them. He watched her walk into the loading bay area, climbing up onto the raised concrete flooring.

"Until I hear back from them, I suppose." he scanned the area around them. It was quiet enough. He followed behind her into the building, needing to duck his head to get inside. He stretched out his arms a bit, all his limbs feeling very stiff after being in his vehicle mode for two days straight.

She stopped in her tracks and watched him curiously. "Never thought I would see a robot stretch like a human."

He gave a small shuckle. "Humans aren't the only ones who get stiff joints." he clarified.

"We're a lot more alike than I thought." she laughed softly.

"And equally as gullible it seems." A voice said from above.

In a flash, two bots jumped down in front of their only exit. Bumblebee stepped in front of the Rachel, making sure she was behind him.

The two Decepticons he knew as Knockout and Breakdown stood outside the door he'd opened earlier. Both had their guns at the ready, one aimed at him and one aimed at the girl.

"Keeping that human well hidden, aren't you little Bee?" It was Arcee's voice that came from Knockout's mouth. Filtering almost seamlessly back to his usual tone, he said, "Really? Come on, that was too easy."

Bumblebee aimed his arm canons at the two of them. "Leave. Now."

"Just give us the girl. This doesn't have to be hard." Knockout said. He stepped closer, his red eyes set on the girl. "I would really like to not make this messy, Bee. The faster we get this over with, the better it is for both of us."

After he'd said that, Bee heard the patter of little feet on the concrete below them. She was running for it. She was heading deeper inside the building. Before he was even able to turn, Breakdown made a dash for her. He tackled the bot, holding him to the ground so she could find somewhere to hide. Knockout took the chance to aim his canon at Bumblebee's head, immobilizing him.

"I'll take care of him. Go after her." Knockout kicked Bumblebee, knocking him off of Breakdown. Breakdown scrambled up, looking dumbfoundedly at his partner before dashing towards the direction Rachel had run off to.

When Breakdown had made some distance, Bumblebee attempted to grab ahold of the con's leg. He was partially successful in knocking him off balance, which gave him enough time to stand again and get his canons out.

"Your little human is getting away. Not going to try and go get her?" Knockout quipped, his gun still trained on Bee.. "Not sure how nice Breakdown will be when he gets her."

"She can handle herself…" he really didn't know that for sure. He just had to trust she would be smart enough to out-maneuver Breakdown in this large run down power plant. There were enough places she could hide, at least until the others would get to them. He'd been broadcasted over the comms since they made contact with the cons. Reinforcements would be here very shortly.

"You know, I was told the human was more expendable than initially thought. Shockwave will only need that squishy brain in her head. The rest of her really isn't that important."

"You're sick." Bumblebee spat, wondering how true that really was. The information was all they needed, but it wasn't as simple as getting at the human brain, right?

"Bumblebee, is one human really worth losing a device that could potentially restore Cybertron? Shockwave is doing us a favor."

"And I'm doing you one too." Arcee jumped down from the ceiling, her guns pointed squarely at the Decepticon's back..

* * *

R ~~~

Rachel scurried into a crevice under a large storage tank, squeezing under it in attempts to put something solid between her and her assailant. She hastily crawled through the old grime and dirt lingering under the old tub, smacking her head on the container as she got up earlier than she should've. That didn't feel good.

She held her head and stood, trying to ignore the pain and make a break for another crevice to crawl in. It seemed like her best bet. She felt the best strategy would be a game of cat and mouse.

The large tank crumbled down behind her, leaving her screaming as the robot behind her clumsily tumbled over the piece of leftover machinery. He had attempted to crawl over, but from the age, it just gave in under the weight.

She wanted to reach the front of the facility, hoping to find exit. An old power plant had to have a back room somewhere. She squeezed between a brick wall and another machine, finding a door at the end.. She hoped it would lead her to the front of the power plant. Maybe even an office section she could hide in. They wouldn't be able to reach her in there, would they?

She threw herself into the door as it was one of those push doors. She thanked God it hadn't been locked, or that would've been embarrassing. There was a long hallway in front of her, leading to a bunch more halls.

Turning her head at sound of the door behind her being demolished, she saw a large arm reaching in to try and grab her. He'd smashed the door down like it was made of paper. She scurried down another hallway, trying to find another door that could lead to another exit.

She found an old exit sign at the end of the hall. But to her disappointment it was locked. After a long maze of rooms and more hallways, she was able to find herself back in the same large she'd been in earlier.

She found a door that led to what she hoped was the front of the building. Her sense of north and south were completely lost to her after a while of maze running. She didn't know what would be waiting for her out here though.

She hadn't thought through what she would do when she was out. Would she just run and see how far she'd get? What about Bumblebee? She knew he could take care of himself, but it wasn't like last time.

She peeked her head out the door, gasping when she saw a two robots waiting for her. She didn't wait around to see if it was the ones after her. She heard a struggle going on outside. She backed away from the door, listening to the bashing of metal against metal. She didn't dare look outside again, not sure if it was Bumblebee or someone else. She felt the whole building shake around her for a moment, as if something had been thrown into the building. Another couple seconds went by in total silence. She heard a voice shouting from outside.

"Girl, you can come out. I know my face ain't that ugly." she thought she recognized the voice, but then again that was how they had gotten into this mess.

When the bot didn't go racing after her, she peeked her head out the door again to see her assailant laying on the ground nearby. She wasn't sure if he was dead or just unconscious.

Standing over her was a taller robot she had met before. Ironhide.

"Where's Bumblebee?" was the first thing she asked, slowly creeping out from behind the door. She was shaking.

"Handling it. Arcee was able to intercept his side of things. I'm here to fetch you." he said, then as if speaking to someone else, he continued. "Open the ground bridge."

Beside the both of them, a large whirling portal opened. She'd never seen anything like it before except in science fiction movies.

Ironhide beckoned her forward. "You first."

"Wait a second. What about Bumble-"

Ironhide interrupted her. "Just walk through it. We can't stand around here all day."

She inched forward. It felt as though her whole chest was pounding.

When she stepped through, she felt a new air around her. Somewhere cooler than before. She recognized it to be the bunker. Standing around her was the two familiar robots she had met the other day. Optimus Prime and Ratchet.

"Rachel. Welcome back." Optimus spoke. Ratchet stooped over and was looking her over once more.

"W-where is…?" she was starting to feel dizzy again, feeling as though her chest was ready to explode from how fast her heart was beating.

Everything faded to black. It felt like only a second until she woke up again. When her senses came to her, she was somewhere completely different again.

"Rachel? You alright?" The familiar voice of Bumblebee was heard from across the large room she was in. She saw him sitting on a large metal table similar to the one she was laying on. It was the medic's lab she remembered from before. It felt a little funny for her to have a giant table all to herself considering it was so huge.

She didn't have a chance to respond as Ratchet spoke up. "Don't try and sit up. Relax." he said to her. She went and laid herself back down, turning her head to look at the two of them.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I screwed up and got us in a mess. Once the Decepticons showed up, I commed the conversation to the others here." Bumblebee said. He sounded defeated.

"We sent the real Ironhide and Arcee to your location via ground bridge; the portal you used earlier." Ratchet explained, walking over to Bumblebee, looking over something on his shoulder. It was then she noticed a glowing blue fluid dripping from his arm.

"Are you hurt?" she asked, deciding to sit herself up again to get a better look.

"That one con put up a bit of a fight when Arcee showed up. He got pretty upset. We call that one Knockout, and the one that went after you, Breakdown."

She felt guilt creeping upon her, making her stomach uneasy. "I'm sorry I ran..."

"It worked out in the end. Don't apologize." he told her. "It actually worked out better than I initially thought it would."

"Still, I just ran like a coward..." her eyes quickly grew wet with tears. She went to cover them up with her sleeve. "You saved me before. I think the least I could do is be helpful or… something." she was a sniffling mess now. She felt embarrassed, but after another life threatening situation, all she wanted to do was cry.

When she looked up, her whole face ran bright red to see him now in front of her. He was crouched a bit so he was face level with her on the table.

"A lot more could've gone wrong if you hadn't run. You were able to distract Breakdown, yeah? That was pretty helpful."

"Yeah, but st-"

"You're not used to this. It's fine. I get it. I'm not expecting you to jump in front of a bullet for me in these situations. That's my job right now. You're doing fine."

"Don't go taking bullets for me. And I don't want you to think I don't trust your ability to… protect me."

She saw a smile appear on his face. He looked a bit smug. She was buttering him up and he knew it. "I appreciate that you do.

"Bumblebee has been through enough to know how to take care of himself and others." Ratchet added from across the room. He paused briefly but spoke once more. "He has a lot more to learn though."

"I'm getting there. I'm no Optimus Prime or Ironhide, but I have my own special talents."

He tapped Bee on top of the head with the tool in his hand. He had a coy smile. "Just keep telling yourself that, kid."

"Ignore him Bee, you're doing fine." Arcee said as she walked into the large room.

"Bahh." he grumbled, shooing Bumblebee away as Ratchet came to Rachel to look her over again. She heard the older robot sigh. "Did you hit your head again?"

She uncovered her still red face. "A little… trying to get away from Breakdown. I didn't hit it that hard, did I?"

"Enough to mildly aggravate the existing injury. Get home and rest, just like I instructed you to before." he told her.

She looked off to the side towards Bumblebee. "Can we just go home now?" she asked quietly.

Bumblebee popped in beside Ratchet. "Think you can handle that ground bridge again?" he asked her, giving a small tilt of his head.

She felt her stomach feel uneasy at the thought of going through that thing again. "I can try."

#

R ~~~

When the two of them stepped through the portal, Rachel realized she was inside her garage at home. Bumblebee was behind her, but he smacked his head against the ceiling of the garage. He held his head, crouching down with a groan. The loud thud went through the whole house. She panicked.

Bumblebee quickly transformed into her old car model in front of her. He just barely missed her mother opening the door, looking around frantically. "Rachel, what the hell was that?"

"It was… the garage door. Got caught on something and… made a thud coming down." She turned to look at the railing of the garage door, focusing on a rustier spot, hoping it would slide with her.

"Never heard it make such a loud sound. I think it even house shook a little." her mom said.

"Weird… Another thing that needs fixing." Rachel tried to pass it off as best she could, she turned to look like she was grabbing something from the trunk of the car.

She heard her mom let out a breath. She knew her lies were only going to last for so much longer. They were getting more and more unbelievable each time. "I got some dinner if you're hungry. Don't talk to your boyfriend for too long tonight or it'll get cold." she said, closing the door lightly behind her.

She froze, tempted to smack her head on the back of the car. When she was gone she heaved a sigh of relief.

"...Boyfriend?" she heard Bumblebee ask after a short period of silence.

"She thinks that I have a boyfriend with how weird I've been acting lately. I just went with it. Might be a nice cover for all this."

"So like a boy that is a friend?" he asked her.

"Well, it's a little closer than that. Boyfriend or girlfriend. It can go either way. It's someone who you're very close with. Someone you're romantic and usually in love with. It's sort of a courtship stage. Kind of like a test run if you want to spend the rest of your life with that person too."

"Have you ever had a boyfriend before?" he asked her. He caught her off guard with that question.

"When I was younger, yes. It was a while ago. I don't date much these days."

She held her head up on her fist, letting her elbow rest on her knee. She wanted to change the subject away from that.

"How's your arm feeling?" she asked him.

"It's fine. Should be good as new in a few days." he said to her.

She walked over to lock the door leading into the house. "Would it be okay… if I looked?" she asked. Her curiosity was peaked. Maybe she could even get a closer look at what he looked like too.

Bumblebee transformed, being careful with his head this time. He sat on his rear, moving his arm forward a bit for her to see. The injured spot was wrapped similarly to how a human bandage looked like.

"Why do you want to look at it?" he asked. She wondered if she was weirding him out..

"Just curious really. It's true what I said before. We're not very different." she came a little closer. They bled like humans too. "I find it funny we got an injury in the same place." she said with a small laugh, lifting the sleeve of her shirt to reveal her bandaged shoulder.

Bumblebee paused and looked down at his injury, then to hers. "I honestly didn't notice that…"

"You're lucky I wasn't the one dressing your wound. I don't think I'd do too well."

She heard him laugh. "It's not that hard. You could learn too. Ratchet is a good teacher, grumpy as he is."

"I'll have to ask him sometime then." she gave a smile. Another strange question popped into her head. "Do you feel pain like us too?"

"We do. Would be difficult to know you are injured if you couldn't really feel it. Could get you even more hurt actually."

"So, do you feel my hand? Like this?" she placed her hand on his forearm. She once again was suffering from a cherry colored face. The metal on his arm wasn't as cold as she expected. Maybe it was the sun reflecting off him all day, but it wasn't unpleasant.

He seemed focused on her hand for a moment, then met gaze once more. "You're warm. And your temperature is slightly increasing."

She pulled her hand away, feeling flutters in her stomach now. Why was she feeling like this, dammit. Her mother had put thoughts in her head, now everything was going to feel weird around him.

She sat in front of him, hoping to talk a little like they usually did. "Mind if I ask some more questions?"

She saw a smile appear on his face. "You don't have to ask me to ask questions, you know." he laughed lightly.

She threw her hands down on her knees. "I just want to make sure! I can be yappy sometimes."

"I'll let you know if you are yappy. Now ask away."

She smiled at his kindness. He was too nice sometimes. "Are there other aliens besides you guys out there?"

"A good amount, but not too many are as technologically advanced as you humans. Some are on the brink, but then there are others still learning about fire. Every place is different."

She snorted lightly. "Then there are you guys. Probably far surpassing most of us organic creatures."

"Heh, I suppose. I noticed you humans have some interesting things too." he paused, as if thinking of something briefly, then spoke again. "Which sort of leads me into my question… What is all this music you humans create? I've never really heard anything like it."

She laughed again, "It's that human creativity I told you about before. It's a way to express your emotions in a way. Something that is relaxing or feels good to listen to. Everyone has their own preferences."

"What kind do you like?" he asked. She pulled out her phone and flipped through her music.

"Well… I tend to like some of the older stuff. I sort of picked it up from my mom. They call it rock 'n' roll or hair metal. Something like that."

"What does it have to do with rocks and hair?"

She burst out laughing. "You ask the funniest things." she took a moment to collect herself. "It's sort of referring back to the 1980s, when everyone wore their hair big with tons of hairspray. Those bands liked to make their hair crazy looking."

She pulled up a stereotypical 80s looking couple on her phone and showed it to him. His eyes were widened and brows furrowed. More of a 'what the fuck' kind of look. She snickered at his reaction. "How much of our music have you been listening to?" she asked him.

"I told myself I would do more research on your human ways, but I always end up just listening to all this music. That's where most of my time goes when you're busy."

"Find anything you like yet?" she asked.

"Some. Usually I listen to whatever is on the radio."

"Maybe you should try some of that music I suggested? See if you like it?" she gave him a small, hopeful smile.

"I can't imagine it would be bad if you like it that much."

At this rate, her red cheeks would never fade. She'd never met someone like this who could make her blush so much in one single day. She cursed her pathetic lack of confidence.

"Okay, um… my turn to ask a question." she said, thinking over her list of questions she'd kept in the back of her head. "Weird, off topic question, but do you sleep?"

"Sleep? We call it stasis. I'm not sure how similar it is to your human sleeping cycles."

She was thankful Bumblebee was so open to answering her questions. It was still funny to think she could have ever been one of them once. Maybe if she could get more comfortable, she might be okay with this idea.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

R ~~~

"You fell and cut your arm?" Elaine opened herself a soda, sitting down on her couch.

"There was something sticking out of a corner in my garage and it scratched me." Rachel explained, joining her with a bowl of popcorn in her lap. Tonight was another movie night at Elaine's place. For sanity's sake, she needed this simple pleasure. A movie with a friend.

"You klutz." Elaine reached over and grabbed a handful of popcorn. "Did you see the movie I picked this time? I know you'll just love it." she then let out a snicker.

"No… what did you find this time?" Rachel looked at her skeptically.

"Found an old cheesy romance movie." Elaine laughed.

Rachel slunk down. "Oh dammit, Elaine… Why the torture? Why do you do this to me?"

"Just to watch you squirm."

And to her dismay, it was pretty good. For a movie of that era at least. It was an old 1940s film. It was charming and sweet. Overdramatic like most old films were, but it still had a good feel to it.

She decided to leave earlier than she had last time. And she wanted to get home and rest for a bit. Watching a movie definitely didn't make her head feel very good.

Bumblebee waited for her outside in Elaine's driveway. She hopped into the driver's side of the car, not realizing the smile planted on her face.

"Enjoy the movie?" Bumblebee asked her.

"Surprisingly, yes." she said, relaxing back into her seat. She instinctively went to try and grab her keys, realizing how stupid she was. Even when she'd been around him for a full week, it still was hard to break a habit.

"What kind of movie was it?" he asked curiously, pulling out of the apartment complex and heading home.

She assumed he knew what movies were by now. There was so many out there, he was bound to find one. "An older movie. A romance, actually."

"Romance? About a human relationship?"

"Y-yeah. You know about romance and stuff like that, right?" she laughed softly.

"Yeah, I do."

She squinted her eyes. "Did you research it, or…?"

"Yeah, a little. You mentioned that boyfriend thing the other night. I thought I'd indulge myself and find out more about it." he explained to her.

That began to lead her to another question for him. "Does your kind… engage in those sorts of things? Like relationships?" She bit at the side of her cheek for asking that kind of question.

"It's possible."

"I assumed you weren't able to reproduce..."

"We aren't. But I've heard of close relationships happening. It doesn't go on much these days though." he told her.

She blinked, speechless. Her cheeks ran dark red, her mind going in places she didn't want it to go. She wondered if these robots also had an equivalent to…

She smacked at her cheeks with both hands, wanting to move that thought somewhere far away.

"Everything okay?" Bumblebee asked, having just witnessed her hitting herself.

"Yep. Peachy." she responded. "Mind if we stop somewhere on our way home? I need to spoil myself a bit."

She had him stop at a well known ice cream shop. He stayed in the parking lot, the both of them not in a big rush to get home on such a nice night.

"Maybe we should watch a movie together sometime?" Rachel asked, then took another spoonful..

"I've seen so many titles. It's made me curious."

She smiled. "You should find one you like and I'll get it so we can watch." she laid back into the seat, relaxing. She rolled the window down next to her, enjoying the cool sunset air.

She heard the radio turn on and music started to play quietly. She quickly recognized the song as Panama from Van Halen, a band she definitely enjoyed.

"Do you know this song?" he asked, noting there was some uncertainty in his tone.

"I would be surprised if I met someone who didn't know this song." she said before continuing to eat her ice cream.

"So you like it?" he asked nervously.

She gave a smirk. Was he nervous he'd picked a bad song? "Of course." Her cheeks ran red at the moment the sex in the car part came on. She was an adult, yes, but when comparing her life recently to these beings, it felt strange.

There was silence between them as they listened, different songs popping up on the radio that she was enjoying. She wondered how much of these were actually ones he'd picked, or one's he'd found on her phone. Regardless, it was enjoyable.

A thought came to mind. A request for him. "Hey, Bumblebee. Maybe for tonight… could we take the longer way back home?" she smiled when another idea came up as well. "As the other car you were before this one?"

She heard him laugh. "Is this one not stylish enough for you?"

"N-no, it's not that. Well… I thought it would be nice to drive around tonight. And I figured you would prefer it as well."

After she finished, she watched as the interior of the car shift, parts moving and changing into what she previously remembered him looking like. The exterior shifted from the black to the familiar golden yellow with the black stripes going down the center.

She was awestruck by what she just witnessed.

"Better?" he asked as he pulled out of the parking lot and sped down the road. She gripped onto the sides of the seats, a bit of adrenaline rushing through her as he sped up.

"Much." she giggled lightly.

* * *

R ~~~

He took the backroads, and she could definitely tell he was enjoying being back in his original form.

A smile formed on her face as he turned the music back on for her. As he drove down the road, there was a silence that came between them as the music played. She didn't know how to exactly initiate the conversation currently, so she decided to state the obvious instead.

"You're very quiet." she said, turning to look towards the steering wheel as it turned on it's own.

"Thinking about some things." he told her.

"May I pry and ask about what exactly?"

He was quiet for a moment, as if picking out his words. "I've missed moments like these. I think it's funny that it takes being on another planet to experience that."

Her heart sunk a little at hearing that. "Do you like it here on Earth?" she asked. She wondered if he felt homesick at all. She knew she would.

"It's beautiful here on this planet, don't get me wrong. Though, it's just so different. The unfamiliar is making me miss familiar. Things would be much easier if I actually understood everything on this planet."

"Well, you can always ask me questions. Like you do for me all the time." she explained to him, hoping in some way she could help make him feel better.

They eventually began heading home. Bee parked in the garage per her instructions and she close the garage door behind him, running into the house and bringing out an old VCR to hook up to the television sitting in the garage. She made sure she locked the door behind her just in case she woke her mom.

"What is that thing?" he asked her. He had transformed back into his normal form, sitting upon the concrete floor and was watching her curiously.

"A VCR. It a way to play movies." she walked her way over towards the television she had sitting in the corner. She carefully dragged it over, hooking the two devices together.

She brought up the two movies she had picked from her mother's collection. "I have two choices here for you. The Terminator or Alien."

"What are they about?" he asked curiously, she noticed his large blue eyes scanning the two boxes she held.

A big smile spread across her face. "Terminator is about a robot cyborg dude coming from the future going back in time to 'terminate'. Alien is about… killer aliens."

Reality struck and she realized then these movies could very easily correlate with Bee's alien robot-ness. She remained silent for a brief moment, her smile turning upside down. "Maybe these weren't very good picks for movies. Shit."

"I was beginning to think you picked those on purpose." he clarified, laughing lightly.

She covered her face with the two movies she held. "I'm sorry, I'll go grab some different ones."

"Let's watch the Terminator one." he insisted. He reached forward with a finger and nudged the movies away from her hiding face. Her face was red again for the hundredth time. She was surprised by the contact as well on his insistence with the movies. "You wouldn't have picked those if you didn't like them, right? So we should watch them."

She remained stunned for a short time, her belly filling with a strange, warm feeling. He was flattering her and she kind of liked it. "I don't want to force you to watch them if you don't want to."

"Never said I didn't."

His blue eyes didn't break contact with her. She felt her nerves starting to feel uneasy for some reason.

She quickly turned away from him and went to stick the tape into the VCR slot. "Right. Terminator it is then."

* * *

A ~~~

"Hand me that welder, would you?" she asked her partner, working on repairing a wall that had capsized after the most recent battle. Someone decided it would be a bright idea to smash through some buildings during a fight. She couldn't complain too much. It gave her work to do. And maybe it would give her enough creds to afford some energon. With the war, prices were spiking and resources were extremely scarce. With all the civilians jumping to pick a side, the castes were falling apart left and right.

"Here." the tool was handed to her by her friend, Punchbuggy

"Thanks, PB." she said, not breaking her focus on the wall she was trying to keep steady in front of her. PB helped her hold the piece up in place as Aurora soldered the damaged wall in place.

"Think we'll hear from any of the superiors today?" Punchbuggy asked her.

"Maybe. Unless they finally decided the war was more important." she sighed, continuing to weld the building as she spoke. Their own caste had begun to fall apart. Most of the workers in Kaon were long gone with their gladiator hero, which left repairs for construction and maintenance more difficult without the resources and supplies coming from the city. They were beginning to use whatever they could salvage these days.

"You can't keep ignoring what's going on around you, Aurora." PB said to her.

"I don't want to get involved. They can squabble, and when it's over, we'll have more work to do."

"We won't if there isn't anyone to give the work, my friend. Times are changing, and everyone is starting to find a new purpose. People are tired of the castes."

Aurora had no comment to that. She didn't want the topic to lead into this again.

PB sighed and stood back, letting Aurora take most of the weight of the wall. It was starting to lean on her now, crushing her a bit. "PB, seriously?" she shouted at her friend, trying to hold up the wall.

"You're going to listen to what I have to say, whether you want to or not! You can't keep pretending everything is going to go back to the way it was. It's not! So many have died already. It is selfish to keep on ignoring this!"

Aurora stared at her, never having heard such an outburst from her friend before. It was true, she just didn't want to accept it. Everyone was creating a mind of their own, and actually speaking out against the norms, but everything just made sense to Aurora with the caste system. She understood the frustration, but hearing Megatronus' words had frightened her more than anything. It amazed her how much things began to change so quickly from his one uprising. She remained silent, not knowing what to say.

"Everyone has woken up from the comatose we've been in for so long. They want change."

"And what if that change doesn't end up the kind they wanted?" she struggled some more under the weight. PB had an unamused look on her face.

"Let me ask you. Do you think fixing this here will improve anything? It'll get destroyed again anyway, like everything else around here. Until the war is over, it will keep going."

Aurora gave her a skeptical look, knowing her secret wasn't doing very well in this situation. "Who did you join?" she asked quietly.

PB helped lift the metal wall off of her, getting it back in place with ease. Why did she had to be so much stronger than her?

"Who else? The Autobots. They're the only ones who make sense, right?"

Aurora gave a small shrug as she stood up, dusting her chassis off. "Well, Megatron has turned into a psychopath, but I try to stay away from politics. They get messy."

"You're an idiot." Punchbuggy said to her. "What will you do? On your own?"

Aurora was silent for a moment, looking down at herself for a moment, then out towards the expanse of the the city of Iacon. Everything was going to slag. Her friend was right, and she knew it. As much as she hated to admit it, if she didn't do something, she would be left behind by everyone else. You had to fight. There was no other way around it really.

Aurora turned to her friend, giving a soft sigh. "Guess I have no choice now. How do I join?"

* * *

R ~~~

Rachel woke up the next morning slowly, feeling warmer than she usually did. She opened her eyes fully and took in her surroundings. She was in the back of the car.

She sat up, rubbing her tired eyes. Shit, had she fallen asleep during the movie?

"Bee? How did you manage to transform and not wake me up?" she asked. There was silence.

"Bumblebee?" she called again. It took a few moments but he eventually answered her.

"Hm? Sorry, was out for a bit." she heard him say. She smiled lightly. So they _could_ sleep. "What did you say?"

"How did you get me in here without waking me up?" she asked him again, sitting up fully and pushing the passenger's seat forward so she could open the door. He'd even had the windows open for her during the night.

"You did for a moment. You sat right up then fell back over again. Scared me, actually."

She huffed, trying to not think how embarrassing that might have been. She stepped out of the car and began stretching out. Her back was hurting a bit, but the fact he didn't try to wake her made that warm sensation come to her stomach again. She was probably just hungry. She checked the time and was thankful she didn't sleep her day away.

"So, I never got to ask. Did you like the movie?" she asked him, running a hand through her messy locks of hair, trying to straighten them out.

"It was interesting. I liked the whole idea of time travel."

She gave a small laugh. "That's the fun part of the movie. It leaves you thinking and questioning things."

"Like… why the human was trying to eat the other human's face?"

"No! We are not going there. I told you it was a sex scene. Mating. That stuff." she said, getting very flustered with him. She wondered if he knew what he was doing and just messing with her.

"Yes, and you still wouldn't answer my questions about it during the movie… Last night you did say you were open to answering questions I had."

"Because it's-!" she stopped herself and took a breath. "That sort of stuff is very… personal. Some humans, like me, don't like to talk about it."

"It's not something you should be ashamed of." he said quietly to her.

"I-I'm not. It's just weird explaining it. I'll be back. I need to get ready for today." When she unlocked the door to the garage and opened it, she could hear her mother in the kitchen. Probably making breakfast.

She did her best to sneak by as quietly as she could, not wanting her to know she slept in the garage, in the car.

Before she could creep down the hallway to her room, her mother swung around to look at her. "You know Rachel, you make it too easy for your mother to guess what you've been up to." she said.

Rachel turned on her heel and looked back to her. "What do you mean?"

"What were you doing last night? The garage was closed, you locked the door, and you slept out in the car." her mother paused with a sigh. "At least tell me you're using protection."

"Mom, I'm not having sex!" she shouted out. She was already flustered from Bumblebee, this definitely wasn't helping.

"You look all sweaty, your hair is a mess, you locked the door, what else am I supposed to think?" she came over and tapped her daughter on the head with a wooden spoon she was about to use. She was definitely messing with her and her mother loved agitating her with these sorts of topics.

"I wanted to sleep in the car last night...and lock the door…" she thought it sounded better in her head, but really she couldn't find a better excuse. There really wasn't a good one for her. Besides, she'd already made up the boyfriend story. This was only going downhill the more she lied.

"I'm not mad, sweety. Just… be smart with these things okay?" her mom sighed softly.

"I will, mom." Rachel turned and made her way to the bathroom to wash away the shame of her morning.

After her shower, she quietly made her way out into the garage again with some breakfast, sitting in the passenger's side seat and shutting the door behind her. She let out a soft sigh.

"What was your mother talking about?" Bumblebee asked her.

She poked at the cereal in her bowl. "You really don't want to know." He left it at that thankfully.

She paused as her dream flashed in her memory. It felt like a bolt jolted through her head for a moment. Usually she wasn't very good at remembering her dreams, but this one stuck. And it felt more real than anything she could imagine. She forgot how to breathe for a moment, not sure how to comprehend the dream. It would probably be best to ask the Cybertronian who was with her. "Bumblebee, what is Iacon?"


	7. Chapter 7

** Edits: 12/25

Chapter 7

B ~~~

"Aurora? So you remember your name?" Optimus asked her.

"I don't really recognize it as my name…I just heard myself being called Aurora. I felt like I was looking through the eyes of someone else."

"After everything that's been going on, I'm not surprised something would eventually spark in her." Ratchet spoke. Bumblebee had brought Rachel straight to Optimus after what she'd told him about in her dream. The most surprising thing was how she suddenly knew the name of the Autobot headquarters on Cybertron. He didn't remember mentioning it to her before.

"What worries me now is I know her memories are indeed held intact in her human shell." Ratchet said.

"But these memories are just sort of…blocked off?" Rachel asked.

"If Shockwave thinks so, I guess I do too, as much as I despise that mad scientist. I'm just not sure all of them are there. Or how to get to them." Ratchet said.

Bumblebee watched as Rachel went pale from his words. "Why exactly did I get ahold of this device thing? Why did I have it in the first place?" she asked.

"You and your team infiltrated Shockwave's lab back on Cybertron." Optimus explained to her. "You took a copy of the data, deleting any backups, and helped destroy the entire facility he housed."

Ratchet then spoke up, getting a closer look at her as she sat on his lab table. "Then you left Cybertron with a science team. By that time, everyone was leaving the planet. I imagine you were all floating in space for a while. They replicated this device, yadda yadda, now here you are."

"How the hell is some…data stored in my human head?"

"It might be there, it might not. I believe your consciousness is entirely linked with this body of yours. Perhaps he cannot get to what he needs without waking you up." he explained.

Optimus walked up closer to Rachel, stooping down a little to be level with her.

"Rachel, your life is more at risk than we initially thought." Optimus began. "Would you be against staying here at the bunker for your own safety?"

She opened her mouth to speak, only a croak coming out before she corrected herself. "What about Bumblebee? Is that not good enough?"

"I trust Bumblebee in his ability to protect you, but I know even he has his limits. It would be beneficial if we could work together more closely. Plus you could work with Ratchet as well to figure out this mystery. The more information we have than Soundwave, the better."

Rachel sat there. Bee could tell she was shaken up from the question. He knew she was thinking about her mother. He never had a mother, but from what he'd seen from Rachel and her, they were extremely close. But it made sense, of course. With her short time on Earth, she believed herself to be a real human. She'd created a family bond that was going to be hard to break. It made him wonder if Aurora would have wanted to stay human.

"Will my mom be safe? How do I know they won't try to-."

"We had you on surveillance 24/7. We can do the same for her." Ironhide interrupted her. "The Decepticons don't want to get involved any more with the humans than we do. Sort of..."

"Not helping, Ironhide." Arcee grumbled, making her way over towards Rachel. "Human militaries are something none of us want to deal with."

"But my mom would call the police if I was missing. Wouldn't they try to find me if I leave? They'll think I ran away or was kidnapped… or killed even!" she explained.

"Perhaps that would be a good cover." Bumblebee added.

"But I-" Rachel stopped herself. She remained silent for a short time, then and looked up towards Optimus and finally spoke.

"If I help you, you will help me. I don't know what I want yet. I haven't made my decision. But all I want is to keep my mother out of this and safe. If I help you, can you promise me her safety?" Rachel pleaded. Bee had never heard her so forward before.

Bumblebee looked to his leader, as everyone else in the room was doing.

"We will do everything in our ability to keep your mother safe, Rachel." Optimus said to her. "And if you so choose to stay a human, we will honor your wish."

Bee wasn't sure how that was going to work, but he knew Optimus would do everything to keep his word. He noticed a spark in Rachel's eye that he hadn't seen before.

"I will help then." she said. He didn't know what changed her mind so quickly, but he knew the dream definitely had something to do with it. Something must have clicked.

"Thank you, Rachel." Optimus said with a small dip of his head.

They had already been preparing for this moment, so Bee was thankful the team had worked on somewhere for her to stay. Her room was still on the large side, but it had accommodations for her.

The room had previously been used for storage when they first arrived, and it was small enough to be somewhere she could hopeful be comfortable in. They'd set up a bed and bathroom for her, which was the bare minimum. He wasn't sure how nice they were comparatively to normal human residences, but she didn't seem too upset. The only thing was they had no way of supplying the human the food she needed. That's where Bee knew his job would come into play again.

He took her home and she spent the day preparing. Making lists, going over with him her necessities, planning, and a whole lot of worrying on her part. He did think she was being too anxious about all this, but he sometimes forgot how much of an adjustment this had to be. He wondered how she was doing mentally..

Late that night when they were on their way back to the bunker, he stopped at a nearby gas station for her to grab some quick things for herself. Mostly for that foodstuff she needed.

They returned to the base and he helped guide her to her new room. He sat by her door as he watched her unpack. She had so many clothes with her. She had a very somber look upon her face still. He truly hoped most of this sadness would be from part of her being so tired from that day.

"Did you bring your whole house with you?" he asked sarcastically, surprised with what she was able to fit in those bags. She looked up to him with a small smile. It was a little better than the one before, but he could tell she was still struggling.

"Wasn't sure how long I was going to be here. I'd rather be over-prepared." she was stuffing her clothes into some containers they had given her. Arcee had been in charge of setting up the whole room for her, while Bee would be the backup help in case she needed assistance, at least when he wasn't watching over Rachel. Arcee and him were the only ones who could fit in the little storage room anyway.

He gave a small tilt of his head. "Do you like the room?" he asked her.

Rachel paused what she was doing, looking around a little. She seemed to have been too anxious to really notice at first. "It's cozy. Definitely different, but I feel safe." she choked on her words a bit on the last word. He hesitated for a moment, sensing she was on the brink of tears once more. She looked to him with red, misty eyes. "Bee, you're sure she'll be safe? I don't know what I'd do if…" she trailed off a bit, sniffling as she tried to collect herself.

He watched her curiously with wide blue eyes. "She'll be safe. Besides, if she plans on contacting the police about a missing daughter, eyes will be all over her, right? If something were to happen, everyone would know." he explained to her. He went to correct himself, as that situation he told her about didn't seem very good to begin with. "And besides, we'll have someone watching her. Possibly Bulkhead when he finishes with the excavation."

"Excavation?" she asked.

"To find the crashed ship. But…don't worry about that." he crouched down, now only reaching about double her height. Humans were a good reminder to him that he was short.

He watched as some of the tension left her after she took a long breath. She stood to look at him. He saw the redness in her eyes. "It's a possibility they could hurt her. To get to me, right?"

Bumblebee tried to think of something to deny it, but lying to her wasn't going to help this situation. "They could. But like Ironhide said before, we will make sure that doesn't happen." he gave a small smirk before adding. "We do have something called a ground bridge, remember? If we have to get somewhere fast, we can."

She remained silent as she wiped at her wet cheeks and gave him a very small smile.

He knew she would still be upset through the night. And he hated that there was nothing he could really do about it. He couldn't relate with the thought of losing a parent, but he had lost a lot of friends in the past. Some who were like his own family. And he was sure Aurora had as well, which made him feel even more guilt for wanting to bring those memories back to her. He knew war, they both had, and he really didn't want her to be apart of it like they were again. Rachel, or Aurora, was living a peaceful life. He didn't want to take that away from her. Especially when she had a family now that she loved. Though, he would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy having her around.

He held out a hand to her, and her eyes flickered back and forth from his hand and back to his gaze. He felt ridiculous now. "Just...give me your hand." he said after a moment.

She hesitated, but eventually placed her hand in his palm. He clasped his hand carefully around hers, causing her cheeks to appear pink again. He had an idea that what he was feeling was the same thing that had been causing her cheeks to redden. Her eyes were wide as she met his gaze, and she was a bit jittery.

"I read that… this is what humans do when they make a promise, right?" Now he knew for sure what he was feeling. It wasn't so much as embarrassment in himself of doing the act, but more so of looking like an idiot in front of her. "I am making a promise to keep you and your mother safe. Those Decepticons won't be able to lay a finger on her."

She opened her mouth to speak, nothing coming out. She cleared her throat quickly. "You don't have to…"

"I thought that maybe it would put you a little at ease." he told her, still holding her hand in his palm.

The was a small silence between them, their gazes not leaving one another. He eventually saw another small smile spread on her face. "It did."

He gave a small, hesitant nod and released her hand, hoisting himself up to stand again. "Good." he said, fidgeting a bit as he thought about if he should stay or leave from this awkward situation. Leaving was probably for the best. "I'm not your caretaker or anything, but maybe you should get some sleep." he said, making his way back towards the door.

"Yeah. Probably would be best." she said, still staring at him. He told her goodnight before turning the corner and leaving her to her room. When he made his way down the corridor, he could hear the quiet, distant sound of that music she liked so much. Metal hair, or whatever it was called.

* * *

R ~~~

Rachel had a hard time waking up the next morning. She was comfortable in the bed she had, but just the fact she was in this place to begin with kept her from getting some good sleep. The music helped though, taking her mind off of her worries.

When she was finally awake enough to hop out of the bed, she decided to finally make use of the bathroom they'd had set up for her. She had a water spout with a drain and a toilet. She couldn't help the snicker that escaped her lips. It would work. She would just be limited to sponge baths and sticking her head under a faucet. It was the necessities she needed. Besides, she would prefer these aliens not worry about plumbing. It was a little awkward thinking about it.

She played her music on her phone, choosing to start with Rock of Ages by Def Leppard as she stripped off her dirty clothes to bathe herself. She dug around in her bags for her bathroom supplies, setting them up next to the tap. The water was chilly, but at least it wasn't freezing. Her hair was a little harder to wash than she thought it would be. She took a moment to also look at the scar on her arm. It was healing up wonderfully. There was still a bit of pain, but nothing a few painkillers couldn't sort out.

When she finished up, she dried off with a towel she'd brought, moving back towards her bed to get her clothes for the day. By the time she had her undergarments on, she peeked up at the door, seeing a familiar bot peeking in towards her.

She let out a shriek, quickly ducking below the bed and hurriedly putting her clothes on. "Bumblebee! What are you doing?"

"I just came to check on you…to see if you wanted to get some breakfast." he said nervously. She then wondered if she'd scared him with her little scream. "I-"

"Stop looking at me and turn around!" she shouted at him. She shuffled her pants on awkwardly, standing up to see him having his back to her. What a wonderful beginning to living in this place.

He was quiet, and she wondered if she'd been a little too overdramatic. He didn't really know better with these sorts of things."Thank you. You can turn around now." she said to him.

"Did I upset you?" he asked her.

She felt guilt build up in her gut. He still didn't really understand the whole human nudity issue. But the last thing she expected was to be walked in on by an alien. "It's fine. We humans just don't like being seen…indecent."

"Those two guys at the beginning of Terminator didn't seem too bothered about it."

She sighed. "That was just a movie. And they immediately put clothes on when they found some. It's not like they ran around the whole movie in the nude."

Bumblebee hesitated briefly. "R-right."

"You know, if you ask someone, you can learn a lot more about humans. You're not the only one learning." Arcee turned the corner and popped her head in through her door. "Good morning, Rachel. Sleep well?"

Rachel ran a hand through her wet hair. "Not really. Just had a hard time sleeping in a place like this honestly." she told her.

"Definitely a lot bigger of a room than you're used to." Arcee said with a small smirk.

"No kidding." she snorted in laughter.

Arcee waved her on to follow her as she began heading out the door. "Come on, let's get out of here for a bit."

"Where…?" she asked, grabbing a few things before chasing after her.

"You humans need to eat after your wake up in the morning. So we'll take you somewhere to get breakfast."

"'We' will?" Bumblebee asked her. "You're coming with us?"

"Ironhide said she needed more eyes on her. Optimus agreed. We're better safe than sorry." she said as she continued to walk off.

"I can handle this alone, you know." he said, and Rachel noticed a bit of annoyance in his tone.

Arcee didn't stop, but called back to him. "Optimus' orders, Bee. Not mine."

Before she could start walking, Bumblebee had already transformed into his vehicle mode and opened the door for her. She wondered if Bumblebee thought Arcee would be taking his job. In that case he was lucky, since Rachel wasn't a fan of riding a motorcycle.

They left, deciding the nearest gas station would be a good place to go. She was surprised when they used the ground bridge to travel. She wasn't too sure how close the nearest gas station really was. It must be far enough if they had to use a teleportation device. But she did remember they were out in the middle of nowhere. Rachel bought more than just breakfast, thinking it would be a good idea to keep some more things back at the base for when she needed them.

Bumblebee was already on the move before she had the time to open up anything. She felt like she was in some sort of comatose state from having a hard time sleeping the other night, she lazily ate her breakfast she bought.

She nibbled on the breakfast burrito, a bit bland, but enough she could stomach until her next meal. She was definitely thankful they had that ground bridge thingy. Maybe she didn't have to eat this stuff all the time, at least she hoped so.

"What's with the face?" she heard Bumblebee ask.

Rachel broke from her thoughts, realizing she had a disgusted expression. "Not a good burrito. It's fine though, I'm just thinking." She hated how often she made faces when she was thinking.

Arcee called for a ground bridge and the two drove through the large portal again, both of them coming to a screeching halt once they were in the still air of the bunker once again. She hopped out of the car and Bumblebee transformed behind her.

Before she could start heading back for her room, Bee spoke up. "Wait, Rachel…Want to join me…outside for a bit?" He asked her.

She paused and looked back up at him, tilting her head slightly. "Yeah, sure."

The two of them sat out by the door in the shaded area. She continued to munch on her breakfast, enjoying the cool morning air, considering it was so hot any other time of the day in this desert.

"How's your head been feeling?" he asked her. "Ratchet wanted me to check up on it every day… not that I wouldn't ask you anyway."

"Why doesn't he just ask me? I'm living here now, aren't I?"

He stared up into the sky, lowering his tone a bit to mimic Ratchet: "The building of trust with the human is important. That's why it's your job to form a relationship with her. I have better things to do than to babysit every second."

"I'm not a child. I don't need to be babysat…"

"I know, I know. That's just him. But anyway…how is your head?"

She looked up to him, speaking after she finished chewing her last bite. "Better. Still headaches here and there but a lot better than it was in the beginning. The more I think about Aurora and Cybertron, the worse it gets. Probably a mixture of stress and all that. Supposedly you're not supposed to have heavy thinking when your head is healing from a concussion."

"Try not to think about it too much then." he said simply.

She looked up at him and squinted her eyes. " Bee, that's easier said than done." she grumbled.

"Think about other things then. Like…movies or music you like… How about..." She watched as he paused in thought for a brief moment. She couldn't help but smile when she heard 'Turn up the Radio' from Autograph being played from his radio.

"Do you like this song?" He asked her, tilting his head in question as he gazed at her. She wondered why he looked for her approval in his music choice. He was allowed to like whatever he wanted, regardless if she did.

She gave a nod. "Is this one you like?" she asked.

"Out of all the other I've listened to, I really like this one." he said. She saw how much he was enjoying the song as he tapped his finger to it on his knee. She laughed lightly, glad to see he finally found one he liked.

"I'm glad my taste rubbed off on you just a little." she snickered, standing herself up and patting his forearm.

"If only I could show you what music was like on Cybertron. I wonder if you liked similar stuff." he said.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to think about that, Bee…" she laughed softly.

"Right…Sorry." he paused briefly, thinking on how to move this topic in a new direction. "Well I found this other song… different genre, but I liked it a lot."

She shook her head, still holding a smile. How he was able to cheer her up so quickly was beyond her. She didn't really know if he was intentionally doing it or not, but she appreciated it.

The both of them sat there for a while, sharing their favorite songs and arguing over which genre was better for the rest of the morning.

* * *

Edit Mon Jul 23 - (I went back to edit a few spots in this chapter for plot points in the future. Not too big a change, but just so I don't have plot holes scattered around )

Edit Wed Aug 1 - (I have no internet or cell service where I am currently at so I wont be able to post any chapters until I get back on Saturday or Sunday. I am using resaurant wifi to post this haha. Plus I have some editing I'm behind on anyway :l I'll do my best to get it out when I get back. )


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

R ~~~

"I'm really not a good test taker, Ratchet…" Rachel explained, sitting on one of his medical counters, eyeballing all the tools and devices that laid around his lab.

"They're important. Even if you're not good at them, it would be beneficial to at least try and see if we can spark another memory."

"What exactly will help by bringing back these memories anyway?" she asked. "Are you expecting me to be able to remember how this thing is made? I wasn't exactly the scientist that made it."

"Not necessarily. It would be a perk, but right now it is essential that we find a way to… make it more comfortable of a transition for you." he explained to her, his back to her as he tapped at a few keys on a console to the large green display monitor in front of him.

"Can't you just… rebuild the scientists instead? They'd probably be more help than I would."

"It's not that simple. And even if we did have materials to repair them, their sparks are extinguished. It's not something you can just repair."

Rachel hesitated for a moment, unsure his meaning of the word. "The spark is your lifeforce, right? Sort of like a human heart?"

"In a way, yes. They work differently, but essentially they are what keeps the body going."

"So how exactly can you bring back Aurora if her spark is gone?"

"It's not." Ratchet said as he turned to look to her. He let out a sigh before he began again, this time with a small smirk "It's funny. Optimus wanted me to discuss this with you today. And here you are asking all the right questions."

Rachel laughed lightly, and it felt a bit fake to her as her chest was tightening to an uncomfortable point. She wondered what exactly she was about to be told.

Ratchet then continued. "You could say Aurora is in a deep sleep. Almost like a dream, in a way. You are that dream to her. Her body has used minimal energon to sustain herself these past ten years. I believe by the time her energon is used up, which could be in a few years or so, you and her would surely parish."

"So, I will eventually die soon if I don't go along with this?" Now she felt like she had a lump forming in her throat.

"Inevitably, yes. Within a few more years probably." Ratchet spoke quietly, a bit more weight of the situation hitting her. She wondered why they hadn't told her this from the beginning. Then again, she wasn't sure she'd have believed it in then

She didn't know what to say, her mind running through the thought of living in a dream-like state for the past decade or so. And now she suddenly finds out that she is a ticking time bomb. "So… how do we wake her up?"

"I have a few conclusions, but I'm not positive yet. We can't sever whatever is happening currently without risking both of you. It's better we handle this with caution. Somehow we have to figure out a way for you to… wake up yourself."

"Maybe if I pinch myself enough, it'll work." she mumbled, not sure he would understand her meaning.

He just seemed to ignore her statement. There went her attempt to make light of the situation. "If I knew what Shockwave had in mind, this might be easier."

Her mind began to drift a bit as she began to consider more about this. "If I am able to get back in that body… would I still be me as I am now?"

Ratchet paused briefly what he was doing, looking to her. "You will."

She brought her knees up to her chin and rested it on them. "I hope so. I just don't want to change too much. I do enjoy being human, believe it or not."

Ratchet gazed at her. She didn't expect any sympathy from him, but she saw it in his eyes. Bumblebee always spoke so highly of him, and yet still joked about his grumpiness. This was the side of him she'd just not seen yet. "You will still be you, Rachel." he told her.

She gave him a small smile, letting in and out a long breath to relax herself. "Alright, let's find a way to make it happen then." she said to him. This wasn't going to go well.

Ratchet brought up his datapad, taking a seat before he began. "Alright, test one…"

The questions were full of words she wasn't able to comprehend. A few times he used words that weren't even apart of her language. Probably no earth language. She had to stop him a few times and try to figure out what he was saying. For some moments he would go off into a tangent trying to teach her Cybertronian language. Not to her surprise, she couldn't pronounce any of them correctly.

The questions he asked were mostly the type of: remember these words and repeat them after me. The one she struggled with the most was the: Remember these words, now do this then this random activity, now what were those words I just told you earlier? She already wasn't confident in her memory skills so this just made it much worse.

Ratchet told her to keep practicing with Bumblebee with the quizzing they'd done together, though she wasn't too sure how long the both of them could keep it serious. Bumblebee was known to goof off and she would just laugh at his antics.

When they were finished, Ratchet ushered her along with him, as he had a few other things to do and he told her it would he a good chance to get a tour of the whole building. Each bot had their own area to call their own. Arcee's wasn't too special. She seemed to be comfortable with whatever she had. Ironhide's area was a mess of what looked like weapons and other tools. She had yet to meet Bulkhead yet, but his area seemed to have a lot more personalized belongings. He had a giant metal ball shaped object sitting in the corner. Ratchet said it was a game Bulkhead liked to play called lobbing. He explained it as a game that you toss it to one another with extreme force, trying to knock each other other.

Bumblebee's area was surprisingly empty. Ratchet claimed it was because he spent most of his time outside of the bunker, as his job had previously been to watch her. She noticed Ratchet seemed to huddle in his lab most of the time, so she guessed that was his space. And the biggest surprise to her was how Optimus didn't really have much in regards to personalization. He was the most mysterious out of the bunch, so that wasn't too much of a shock. But still, she wanted to know a little more about him.

She noticed a good hoard of glowing blue cubes stacked into one of the rooms, which was kept sealed off. "This is energon. We live off this stuff." he explained to her. "It's something you'll learn about when we get you transitioned."

"Where do you get it all from?" she asked him.

"This is what we brought with us. It can be mined from planets, some of which have an abundance. Though there are small traces on this planet, so we must ration our resources for now."

Rachel wondered what that meant for her. Wouldn't she be taking up resources they would all need? And if there wasn't a lot on Earth, how long were they intending to staying?

She opened her mouth to ask another question, but he began to walk onwards deeper through the corridors of the bunker. "Don't go touching that stuff either. You have full reign here, just don't get into things if you don't know what they are." Ratchet explained to her. She continued behind him, going into a run to catch up to him.

She was beginning to feel more at ease about living in this new place. It wasn't as bad as she thought, plus the company helped the transition a little better. Bumblebee found ways to distract her or get her mind off home and her mother.

And it worked most of the time.

* * *

B ~~~

The ground bridge gate opened up a distance away from where he had expected. "So far away from the dig site?" Bumblebee asked Optimus who stood in front of him.

"For good reason…" Optimus told him.

Bumblebee paused, watching the gate behind them close. "I have a feeling you brought me out here not just to look at the ship, Optimus." Bumblebee inquired. As he continued after his leader, he began pushing tree branches out of his way as they walked through the dense vegetation.

"You are correct, Bumblebee. I wished to discuss some topics with you." Optimus said. It would be a bit of a trek, and it made him anxious to wonder what he wanted to say to him outside of earshot from anyone.

"Right… What did you want to discuss?"

"I'd been meaning to discuss with you more about Rachel. I wanted to hear your opinion about her since you know her the best of us all. We don't have the liberty of having someone that knew of her on Cybertron. Do you think she will be able to handle this sort of transition?"

"Back to… Aurora?" he asked.

"Yes. As much as I hate to say it, Rachel will have no choice but to return to her original body. You and I both know what will happen if she doesn't."

He knew, and he didn't really want to think about it much.

"I think she could handle it. I'm sure if we told her what would happen if-"

"Ratchet is explaining that information with her as we speak. I thought it would be a good time to share it." Optimus said to him.

"I don't mean to question your choice, Optimus, but why hold off on this information from her?"

"For her benefit. I do not like lying to her, but I don't believe she would've been able to handle this information from the start. To be completely honest, I wasn't sure how she would react after meeting us, let alone learning what we have told her so far. There are still quite a few things she does not know."

Bumblebee was silent, wondering what he was referring to. There was still quite a few things he himself didn't know yet.

"I've been wanting to know, Optimus. Would there be any way to allow her to stay human somehow?" he asked his leader.

"If she were to know how she really became human, I'm positive she would not want to repeat it."

Bumblebee gave his leader a look he wouldn't usually give him. He trusted Optimus, and he knew he would have a good reason for keeping this from him. "What do you mean?"

There was some silence between them, Bumblebee looking to his leader to continue.

Optimus let out a small sigh. "The device we seek is embedded within her body. Her protoform, that is. Back on Cybertron, Shockwave had captured her team that was sent to infiltrate his lab. He tortured and experimented on them, as he did many other captured Autobots. After the lab was destroyed, an Autobot science team studied her, learning more about this implanted device Shockwave involuntarily gave to her. From what they were able to discover, she was able to project herself into other beings and creatures at will. Though it seems every time this happens, her memories are lost of all previous experiences. I was surprised when she was able to remember her previous self from the beginning of the war."

"What would the Decepticons need this thing for anyway? And why do we want it?" Bee asked. It took him a moment to then realize that this meant Rachel was in fact not an artificially created human as they had told her initially. She was technically a full human. She was just taking over the body of one for a decade. That really didn't sit right with him.

"I imagine it was not yet complete. But Shockwave is going to recreate it. And Megatron wants it. The team that initially destroyed the facility, rid of any research he was working on."

"And how exactly would this help restore Cybertron? Everyone is acting like this could… actually work." Bumblebee asked him.

"I believe Megatron intends to reach the mind of Primus. To perhaps reawaken the almighty one, and take control of him."

This struck him like a hammer on the head. He was struggling to find words. He really didn't expect having been kept from this secret. And he didn't expect a plan to reawaken the spark of their creator. Was he the only one who didn't know? "That's… a lot more complicated than what I originally thought this all was about." he hesitated briefly before he continued, the initial shock fading. "Why would you keep this from me, Prime?" he asked Optimus. He wanted an explanation in the very least.

"I know how you would feel about this. Sometimes your emotions will get ahead of your judgement. You are young, you are still learning, and it is understandable. I only wanted to be sure there was no chance of suspicion from us to her. We need her trust." Optimus placed a hand on the scout's shoulder. Bumblebee held back his words, wanting to deny everything he'd just said. Though, he didn't want to question Optimus' judgement or argue with him. He never had before, and he wasn't sure he wanted to start. He hoped he would learn to understand the reasoning behind Optimus' ways.

Optimus continued. "She trusts you, as I do, Bumblebee. And we must do whatever we can to keep her from Megatron's grasp. I don't know if this plan would work, and I don't want any one of us attempting it as Megatron wants to. But destroying it must be our first goal. We just have to figure out how to accomplish that without hurting her."

Bee was silent, struggling to find words to say to his leader. His first thoughts were that he knew he would have to keep all of this from her. It would be hard, but as much he wanted to deny it, Optimus was right. Rachel didn't need to know about this tortured past. He just hoped those wouldn't be the sort of memories she would get back anytime soon.

"Hey! I didn't know you two were coming here. Thought you guys were some Decepticons for a nano-second there." a voice boomed from the distance ahead of them. Bumblebee jumped at Bulkhead's scare. He had been so deep in thought that he hadn't realized they'd arrived

"We came here actually to have a discussion. About Rachel." Optimus explained as they both turned to greet him.

"Didn't know it had gotten that serious already, Bee." Bulkhead laughed, squinting his optics at the yellow bot.

Bumblebee felt like his spark dropped into his gut when he realized his meaning behind his words. "Primus, Bulkhead…" he grumbled.

The larger Autobot let out a roar of laughter to his reaction. "Relax, relax. Just playing with ya. You're looking a little tense, Bee." Bulkhead explained to him.

He had a good reason to be tense, but did he really have to go and say that?

Optimus turned back to Bumblebee, seeming as though he had not finished what he meant to say. "I do not intend to keep this a secret from her forever. Just for now while she is adjusting. It would be cruel to keep a crucial part of her life hidden away. I share this with you because I know you care for her. And I hope you will continue to do so moving forward."

Bee knew he didn't say it, but Optimus wanted him to keep his mouth shut until the time was right. Rachel always told him she wanted the truth and to remember her real past. But honestly, he was okay with her staying completely ignorant of it. It would probably be better for her.

He hoped what he had planned that evening would be a good distraction. For the both of them now.

* * *

R ~~~

Rachel looked forward at the sign that passed them by as Bee drove through the ground bridge.

"Drive in theater? How did you find one of these?" Rachel asked, shocked he even looked them up.

"I'd read up on them. It was something I thought we'd be able to do together. Plus I can see it a little better than on the tiny screen that was in your garage." he added a little laugh at the end.

Now she felt bad for not considering that previously. "You didn't tell me you had a problem with it at the time. It was all I had..." She didn't recognize the scenery or terrain around her. They definitely weren't in the desert anymore. It was much more humid than she was used to, and the abundance of green was a complete change for her.

"Well, now that I know there are huge screens you can watch from, I won't pass on that opportunity." Bumblebee said.

She smiled at him. Along a large outlook there was a large white painted screen set up at the end of a parking lot. Each lot had its own speaker set up alongside it. She was surprised to see a decent amount of people there. She didn't know there were still people who went to drive in theaters. But honestly, nice evenings like the one they were in was ideal for this sort of event. She could understand why it used to be so popular. She wished they still were.

"Supposedly these used to be much more popular a few decades ago." Rachel said to him, looking around to see the area.

"Why did they stop using them?" He asked her.

"I guess everyone prefered to watch movies indoors at a theater. Better sound, better picture, and no risk of bad weather." she explained to him. "Doesn't mean we shouldn't still have some here and there."

When he was parked, she went to buy herself a big bucket of popcorn. She found out what movie it was once she'd bought her ticket. Finding Nemo. She wasn't sure how interested in the movie Bumblebee would be, or if he knew that was even the movie. It was a movie meant for all ages, yes, but she wasn't sure he would get premise. Besides, it was about fish. She just stayed quiet and waited for a hailstorm of questions. But she loved this movie, and she hoped he would too.

She did get quite a few funny looks as she looked as if she were talking to herself throughout the movie.

He was a lot more quiet than usual. He didn't really ask many questions like he usually did. It was strangely quiet for him. He had been gone all morning with Optimus. She wondered what exactly had gone on. Unless it was just her constant worrying, he wasn't like himself.

"Are you watching?" she heard him ask after some time. "Why are you staring at the dashboard?"

"Sorry, I'm watching. I was just noticing you're… a lot more quiet than usual tonight." she said to him. She fumbled with her hands a bit, feeling as though she had to do something with them to break the awkward situation.

Bumblebee gave a much more alarmed reaction than she was expecting, startling her a bit. "N-no, sorry! I just have a lot on my mind. Don't let it ruin the movie for you… It's nothing. Really." She jumped a bit from his response.

She then sighed softly, trying to relax. It was obvious he was keeping something from her. "You sure? I wouldn't want you not to be able to focus on the movie either. If you want to talk about it…"

"It's alright. It's just… some things today going wrong at the dig site. Sort of ruined the day a little." he explained to her.

She gave a small nod, leaving it at that. She wasn't going to pry too much more. The voice in the back of her head was telling her he was lying to her. She didn't want to think he was lying. He'd been honest with her so far, why would that change? It was a strange feeling inside of her, but he was her only stability right now in this strange new reality. One person she could cling to. She was afraid to lose that.

Now he wouldn't shut up through the whole movie. It was as if he was asking too many questions now. For her sake. He was worried about her, and it became obvious. He was a lot more attentive to her.

She was disappointed when they weren't able to finish the movie all the way through. A private com channel had been set up for Bumblebee so that any warnings sent his way wouldn't need to be questioned. She knew he didn't want to run into an issue like last time.

Once the ground bridge was up and they were back in the familiar bunker, Bumblebee opened the door for her to get out.

She hesitated before she did, wanting to say something privately to him before she was surrounded by other listening ears. "Thank you, Bee. You didn't have to go and take me to that… but you did. I appreciate it." she said quietly.

He was silent, not in shock, but more in searching for the right words to say. "I'm glad you liked it." he paused once more before continuing, a bit less hesitant now. " Maybe next time we can find a touching movie not about a human food source."

She puckered her lips and gave the radio his voice came out of a look of disapproval. "Bumblebee, we don't eat all fish. When I say we eat fish, it's usually a specific type. Okay, maybe _some_ people do eat… those kinds of sea creatures… but- I don't know." she scratched at the back of her head. At least this was a conversation about Finding Nemo, and not about naked men in The Terminator.

"Riiiight. Just felt a little awkward to me."

"Bee… It was just a movie. Don't think about it too much."

* * *

WHEW, I'm glad I was able to get a bit more editing done on it before posting. Some future edits may come as well (I'll leave a note if I do).

Hope everyone enjoys! (Some stuff is going down in the next chapter, so I hope everyone will stick around ^_^ )

Thank you for all the follows and comments, I really appreciate the support! I'm just glad you guys are enjoying it :'D

I'm open to any feedback and reviews, so let me know if you have any!

Thank ya!

EDIT 8/10 - I think to avoid rushing things, I am going to switch to posting every 3 weeks. With work, it makes it difficult to keep up. So expect another chapter on the week of the 19th.

(( Also I edited the synopsis to make it sound a little nicer. I didn't like the first one very much, ))


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

R ~~~

"It _is_ cold" Rachel bundled herself up in the two layers of jackets she'd brought to wear. She didn't really own a large coat living in a desert.

"I said it would be cold…" Bumblebee said, watching as the ground bridge behind them closed. They were in the middle of a snowy pine forest. Bumblebee walked for a short time before a large clearing opened up before them. In the middle was a large hole that had been dug, and down inside it looked like there was a ship of some sort..

They were in a mountain range in Colorado, once again in the middle of nowhere. It was cold, but not as cold as she had expected. She was sure if it was colder, they probably wouldn't have bothered bringing her along.

"Seems like Bulkhead and Ironhide did a good job digging all this out." Arcee said from a distance in front of them, stepping forward around the large excavation site. Optimus was ahead of the three of them. The only two not there were Ironhide and Ratchet.

Peeking out from the hole in the ground was Bulkhead. "It took a little longer than we hoped." he said. Rachel noticed he was covered in dirt. How long had he been digging? She ran up to catch up with the three of them, Bumblebee walking behind her.

"Bulkhead?" She said, seeing the new large robot in front of her.

"Rachel. It's nice to meet you." he said, stepping out of the rubble and debris.

"Likewise." she said to him.

"Bulkhead has been busy digging up this site. It didn't take too long to find the crash site, but digging it out took the most time." Optimus explained to her.

"The ground here is mostly frozen and hard to get through." Bulkhead told her.

"How long has this ship been here?" Rachel asked.

"Maybe a few decades. It's not embedded in the mountain too much. It's just the stone and ice that is the hardest to get through." Bulkhead clarified, looking back at his handiwork. If you looked closely you could see some of the ship sticking out of the hole, and some parts of it scattered into scrap piles along the edges.

Bumblebee knelt down and offered Rachel a spot on his shoulder as Optimus and Bulkhead descended down the hole. She gripped onto a piece of his shoulder armor to keep steady as he lowered down into the dark pit. As scary as it was to hold on for dear life, she couldn't help but enjoy the adrenaline a little.

"So my old body should be in here?" she asked. She clung to him as he lowered down into the hole, Arcee deciding to stay up top to watch the area.

"If you're still alive, then she's sleeping in here… somewhere." Bulkhead said ahead of them. The ship was larger than she expected. At first, it didn't make sense why it took so long for giant robots to dig out this ship. Now she knew why.

Bumblebee followed in behind Optimus and Bulkhead and they made their way into a hole created at the side of the ship. It was dark inside, the only light coming from the car lights on their bodies. She noticed the smell, which was comparable to the inside of an auto repair garage. She covered her nose with her sleeve.

Rachel spoke up. "Optimus… The air here is-"

"Bumblebee, neither of you go too far in. I neglected to realize the ship might be releasing harmful fumes in this state of disrepair. Don't go too far from the exit here. We will find the body." And with that, Optimus and Bulkhead were gone, venturing deep into the ship.

The both of them sat there, not sure what to do with themselves. She wanted to see a little of this ship at least. She was scared, but curious as she was really the only human able to see this.

Bumblebee poked his head through the entrance hole, looking around at the interior. From what her eyes were letting her see, it was rusted and some ice could be seen along the corners and edges. No wonder it got so rusty so fast in this wet terrain.

She felt a little bummed she couldn't explore the ship a little, but she would prefer if she could breathe, and the Autobots seemed to prefer that as well.

When Bumblebee began to climb out of the pit, Ratchet was heard over their intercoms. "Optimus, you have company."

She heard the loud screeches of jet engines behind them as Bee climbed back up to the surface. A portal similar to their ground bridge opened. Stepping through were two more of them. One was the familiar Knockout she remembered, and the other was a mystery to her. But he was big.

"Decepticons?" she asked him quietly. She knew it was a stupid question, but she wanted to be certain.

"Yes. Just stay quiet." he said to her.

"And you don't go trying to be a hero…" she told him back.

The jet landed behind the others and pushed past them as he spoke. "Thank you so much for doing all the hard work. Why waste resources when others can do it for you?"

"Starscream… You will not be stepping in that ship." Optimus boomed from behind them, having made it back to the surface. Bulkhead was nowhere to be seen. She wondered if he was still searching.

"Optimus." Starscream sneered. "I don't care which I have. You will give me one of them." His red eyes stuck on Rachel, making her legs feel like jelly. Her grip tightened on Bumblebee's shoulder. "Give me the body, and I'll let the human leave here… unharmed."

"That's not going to happen." Arcee spat at the slender Decepticon.

Starscream looked at her with a grimace. "How disappointing. I was trying to be reasonable." He lifted a fist towards them, missiles now flying at them from arm-mounted launchers. Bumblebee grabbed ahold of her from his shoulder and dove out of the way. She tried to cover her head as they tumbled, her arms taking most of the brunt of the hits on the head from Bumblebee's tumbling. The rest of her body would have some bruises soon.

Bumblebee struggled up, but began to run before she could register what was going on. She could hear the fight going on behind them. Bumblebee's body shifted around her, changing back into his vehicle form. Being placed in the cabin as he transformed, she laid awkwardly, partially in the driver's seat and her legs in the passenger's seat.

"Ratchet! We need a groundbridge at my current location!" Bumblebee shouted as he weaved through trees and shrubbery in the forest terrain.

"There's some sort of interference in the area. I can't get a signal from you. I might be able to send a groundbridge to the previous coordinates though." Ratchet said over his radio.

"We'll have to do that then. I'll tell you when to activate it." Bee said.

Rachel looked behind them, seeing Knockout in his vehicle form right on Bumblebee's tail.

She turned back around, trying her best to remain calm through the bumpy ride she was in. This forest terrain wasn't really made for a muscle car.

"Bee?" she asked worriedly as there was some silence from him. She gripped onto the seat as he swerved out of the way of Knockout smashing into the back of him.

"Rachel, I'm going to engage him. When you have a chance, keep running north. I'll call the ground bridge." he instructed her.

Her mouth hung open for a second, having a hard time getting words out. "Okay." she stuttered.

Bumblebee swung around, the closest door to her opening and flinging her out onto the ground. She tumbled a bit, trying her best not to hit her head again. When she looked over, Bee was already tackling Knockout as the con was halfway through his transformation.

Rachel shuffled backwards, stumbling as she tried to get up to run. She darted behind one of the trees, only to have it coming tumbling down on her as Bumblebee came flying into it. She scrambled from under the fallen branches and leaves to head in one direction for now. She didn't make it too far.

* * *

B ~~~

Bumblebee quickly got up to defend his position again, keeping the Decepticon from going any further into the wooded area.

Knockout kneed him in the gut before using Bee's grip to fling over him and kick him hard in the back. Bee was knocked down, and before he could try and get up, he Knockout's saw blade nexto to his neck.

"You're falling behind a bit, Bumblebee. Getting a little soft like the human?" Knockout chuckled.

Knockout attempted to start running again for Rachel. He grabbed at his feet desperately, making the con fall forwards.

He was able to crawl over him to hold down his arms, his feet holding on his ankles. "Ratchet, open that ground bridge!" he shouted urgently over his intercom. Not too far away distance away, the portal opened. He wasn't sure where Rachel had ran off to.

He looked up briefly to see her small figure booking it towards the gate.

A roar of a jet engine came from behind him. Before he could turn to see what it was, a sharp pain came to his back from two shots hitting him square in the back, his car doors breaking off in the process. He stumbled up to try and run after him, seeing Starscream flying to catch up with the girl.

He leaped for him, grabbing the tail of the jet and sending him crashing down into the ground.

Starscream was back in his robotic form, grabbed at him, yanking him up and holding him by the throat.

"Bee!" he heard Rachel's panicked scream. He could hear the sound of small feet coming in their direction. She was doing the complete opposite of what he told her to do.

"Go, Rachel! Dammit!" he shouted at her. Starscream turned towards the girl, a shit eating grin on his face. He squeezed at Bumblebee's neck, his sharp claws digging in where they could puncture.

"Stop it!" Rachel cried out to the Decepticon. Starscream looked over to her with interest, seeming surprised. Seeing her reaction seemed to spur him a bit. Bumblebee grabbed at his hands clawing his neck, struggling deeply.

Tears streamed down her cheeks at the sight before her. She cried out again to the Decepticon. "If you want me, them come get me! Leave him alone!"

"Dammit, Rachel!" Bee coughed.

Before Starscream could take a step towards her, Optimus was behind him, sending a fist into the con's head. It sent the both of them down to the ground.

Bee panicked when he saw Rachel lifted up. He himself was then also lifted up and tossed onto the back of his comrade, Bulkhead. He took them both through the ground bridge. Optimus and Arcee came sprinting in their direction. Prime was carrying something over his shoulder, with Arcee in tow behind him.

The four of them dashed through the gate, arriving back to their base. Once they were clear, Ratchet closed the portal, leaving whatever was left of the excavation site for the Decepticons.

Bumblebee was carried to the medic. At first he had forgotten he'd been injured. Once things started to settle down for a moment, his neck and back started to hurt incredibly. He didn't realize how much energon he'd lost until he looked down at at the floor to see it soaking the ground of the bunker.

* * *

R ~~~

As soon as Bulkhead had set her down, Rachel hurried to be at Bee's side..

Arcee raced to stand in front of her, blocking the way. She looked bruised and beaten from the fight. She was obviously tired. "Hold on. Let Ratchet do his thing. Bee will be okay." Arcee told her, kneeling down in front of her. "The last thing he needs right now is to worry about stepping on a human."

"But he-" Rachel began, only to be silenced by the femmebot.

"You need to relax."

"This is my fault again. I saw him get hurt and I got scared… I keep getting him hurt." She held her hands at her ears, a high pitched ringing suddenly sounding in her ears.

"Rachel, it's okay. We all knew the risks from day one when this war started. We are doing this to keep Cybertron safe. And to help out a fellow Cybertronian." she told her.

Something felt like it cracked in her at that moment. "Some of us didn't want the war to start in the first place." she spat bitterly, the words seeming to slip off her tongue. They didn't feel like her own. She covered her mouth once the words came out, her teary eyes looking to Arcee's awestruck optics. She knew that was completely disrespectful, hoping she hadn't offended Arcee. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Rachel repeated, covering her face now. "I don't know where that came from…"

Arcee was silent for a short time, listening to Rachel's whimpering. She finally spoke after a few moments. "A lot of us didn't want to have this war, Rachel." Arcee said. "But some of us wanted to protect those we care about. As much as I wanted to wait out the war, nothing would change unless we did. We had no choice."

Rachel's words came out in a sob, as if she had been crying for a long time. "I don't want to watch anymore bots die." Rachel started to shake, panic spreading through her. Her breathing quickened with every second. What was she saying? These emotions she felt didn't feel familiar. She looked as if she were going insane in front of Arcee.

"Rachel. Calm down." Arcee said, her hand coming to rest on her shoulder, giving her a small shake.

"I'm so sorry." she said quickly, her breathing so fast she felt like she was panting. Hyperventilating soon followed. "I don't know what I'm saying."

Arcee squeezed Rachel's shoulder lightly. She saw sympathy rather than the surprise and shock she was expecting. She still wasn't quite familiar with expressions or body language with them, but she was slowly learning.

Arcee took her outside for some air and let her return to her room after a while. Rachel laid in her bed, curled up in hopes it would calm her somehow. She wanted to see Bee. She wanted to apologize and tell him how stupid she felt. Though the thoughts ran through her mind of what would've happened if she had run. Would the Decepticon have killed Bumblebee? After the last incident, the last thing she wanted to do was run. Something kept pulling at her, telling her not to be a coward. She didn't want to leave him to die. Not after everything he'd done for her.

The next morning, she quickly made her way to Ratchet's med bay. She perked up when she heard Bumblebee's voice, peeking her head in to see what was going on. She saw Bumblebee laying on his stomach on one of those large tables, Ratchet working on the damage to his back.

She stepped in, and it didn't take long for Ratchet to notice her out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, kid. Sleep well?" he asked her.

"Not really." she said quietly. "Not after yesterday."

She noticed Bumblebee's arm lowered down close to the floor, laying his hand flat on the ground. He made a motion, beckoning her to come over. She made her way towards him, letting him lift her up to the table.

"Feeling alright?" she asked him. She felt a lurching in her chest when she saw his neck wounds.

"Better than I was yesterday." he told her, placing her down in front of him. He brought his arms in and crossed them under his chin.

"I thought I told you not to go being a hero." she said quietly to him.

"It comes with the job, Rachel. I've done these sorts of things for over a million years. I won't let a con take me down that easily." he said. Her brows were furrowed at him. His eyes lowering briefly and flashed back to her. "You should've ran to the ground bridge. It could've-"

She cut him off. "Gone a lot worse? Bee, he could've hurt you even more..." she was a bit more forward than she usually was, which frankly scared her a little. Her emotions were doing things she didn't expect again. "I don't want you thinking I don't care about what happens to you. Because I do!"

Bee stared at her, blinking his round eyes with confusion. She bit her lower lip, wanting to take back everything she just said. It felt a little too forward, but there was no going back now.

"Rachel…" he hesitated with his words for a moment.

"Think about yourself too, okay? I don't care if I'm important for whatever reason. I don't want to be important. I don't want to see a friend get hurt."

His silence went on, his eyes lowering once more as if deep in thought. "I'm sorry."

"Idiot, don't be. I should be sorry." she let out a soft sigh, her breathing shaky as she was on the brink of tears "You saved me again, after all. I owe you a lot. I owe a lot to all of you."

"Rachel." Ratchet got her attention, breaking her from her conversation. "Did anyone tell you yet about what we were able to bring back yesterday? I've been fixing you up all day."

"Fixing me up?" she repeated to herself. She watched as he walked over to the other medical table, a sheet laying over what seemed to be a body. She really hadn't paid much attention to anything that has been going on since they had gotten back.

He pulled the sheet off the body, revealing an unknown yet somehow very familiar sight.

"Aurora?" she asked, sitting on the side of the table, taking a good look at the relic. It was covered in dust and dirt from the dig site, but seemed to be getting cleaned up here and there. She looked as though she were hooked up to a life support machine, keeping that stuff called Energon running through her.

"What do you think?" Ratchet asked her. She honestly wasn't sure what she was supposed to think. This was still very strange to her.

"You're shorter than me, heh." Bumblebee added, laughing as he teased her.

She would smack at his shoulder if it wouldn't hurt her hand. "Not how I expected, really." The body wasn't incredibly large compared to Optimus' or Bulkhead's, and she was thankful for that. She wasn't sure how well she would adjust to such a large new body. She would be afraid of stepping on everything. The color of her metal was a silverish blue, patches of darker chrome silver here and there. She could see the wear and tear from the war going on for millions of years. Scars, chips, and probably some damage from the crash and burial of the ship.

Rachel looked to both Ratchet and Bee. "Maybe… This would be a chance to help you all out. And keep you from getting in those situations like yesterday. I could protect myself. I have no idea how to fight though… so someone would need to teach me. I know I'll have to pull my weight around here somehow, right?"

Ratchet was about to speak before Bumblebee butted in.

"That's one way to look at it." Bumblebee said.

"And maybe I could protect you for once too if I get good enough." she added with a small smile, looking to him.

He squinted his optics at her. "Are you implying I can't do it myself?"

She laughed and she couldn't help a big smile from forming on her face. "If you don't worry about yourself, maybe someone else ought to. Get better, okay?" she said before hopping down from the table, a little bashful of her forwardness with her statement.

"Rachel, wait…" He continued when she turned to face him again him. "I found a movie I wanted to watch called Star Wars. Do you know that one?"

She snickered. "There are multiple of those. And I prefer the first three. We'll have to watch them together." She was incredibly thankful he was still his cheerful self after what happened the day before.

* * *

Thanks for reading everyone! So I think I'm definitely going to stick to posting every 3 weeks. This gives me much more time to edit and just write in general.

I appreciate all the follows and alerts! It means so much to know people are enjoying this. I'm hoping to get a cover for this story soon too, so I hope everyone will enjoy that too!

Critiques, comments, and reviews are very welcome! I'm looking to improve, as I still have a lot to learn. And I love hearing you guys. Don't be afraid to comment!

Thanks again for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

R ~~~

took a bit of convincing, but Optimus had been surprisingly alright with Rachel's request. She was slowly understanding why he was a leader.

She wanted to see Elaine again. After the previous day, she wanted to talk to a human friend for a bit. Arcee watched over her this time, getting close to town through ground bridge and taking a short trip to her friend's house. Rachel was not a pro at using a motorcycle. She was just glad she wasn't the one driving it. She hoped she'd be able to persuade Elaine not to contact her mother.

"I won't call her, but at least tell me you're okay." Elaine said, bringing her over something to eat. Elaine claimed Rachel looked paler than usual, so having a big breakfast was non negotiable as far as she was concerned.. Rachel could understand why. She had been living with the Autobots for a week and a half now. Her diet wasn't as great as she wanted it to be.

"I'm fine. Really. Just… making some big decisions on my own." she said.

"What? To disappear from civilization? You didn't tell anyone what you were doing, Rachel. Not even me." Elaine said, sending over a plate of breakfast to her. Sausage, eggs, and some toast. Her mouth was watering just smelling it.

"I don't want to give half-truths to you, but let's just say it has something to do with the ten years I couldn't remember as a child." Rachel told her.

"The stuff you didn't want to talk about?" Elaine asked, then sipped on her coffee.

"Yeah." she said before taking another bite. "That stuff."

Elaine sighed. "So then why did you come here?"

"Sort of to say goodbye." she told her quietly. Elaine paused mid sip, staring at her in alarm. Her eyes felt like they were piercing her soul.

"Rachel, you're scaring me."

"Just trust me on this. It's hard to explain, and you wouldn't believe me if I told you. I don't know what's going to happen in the future, but I didn't want you thinking anything terrible happened to me. You'll probably see my mom again. When you do, tell her I'm okay. And I'm happy." The happy part was a bit of an exaggeration to calm them down. In truth, she felt the complete opposite in this situation.

"You couldn't go tell her yourself?" Elaine asked.

"No. I don't think I'd want to leave again if I did." Rachel slumped down in her seat a little.

"Don't worry about that past stuff and just go home. This is stupid."

"I have to do this, Elaine. I have a responsibility now. It sounds weird but… just trust me?"

Elaine stared at her. She shook her head and stood. "I'll have to tell the cops you were here, you know. You're a missing person right now." Elaine probably thought she was insane now, but Rachel was okay with that. It was a good cover for her. Though they probably would want to take her to a mental hospital now if they caught her.

Rachel huffed a breath, chowing down the rest of her food.

She quickly stood when Elaine left the kitchen. Was she going to call someone now? "Where are you go-?"

She cut her off. "To grab you a few things. Just relax. I'm not calling them now..."

A few minutes passed by while Rachel scarfed down her food, debating just leaving right now to not risk it. Elaine returned with an old backpack, stuffing some things in it from the kitchen. "What is all that for?" Rachel asked.

"For you. At least I'll know you aren't starving out there. It's been almost two weeks and you already look like a stick." her tone was quiet and somber, making Rachel's chest hurt. "Also some other things I thought I'd throw in."

She stood again as Elaine placed the bag in her arms. Elaine wrapped her arms around her friend, holding her close. Rachel felt trails of tears streaming down her cheeks now, and she wasn't sure when they would stop.

"Just be safe, okay? Don't make me regret letting you go." Elaine said, pulling away to look at Rachel's now teary face. "And stop crying! You're making me cry." her voice wavered off a bit, already choking on tears.

"I will." she said to her, wiping her cheeks on her sleeves. She paused briefly, waiting for a moment and then looking up to Elaine, wiping at her cheeks some more.

"This might be a stupid request, but the Star Wars trilogy you borrowed from me. The dvd set? Can I take it with me?"

Elaine's eyes were red with tears, and she managed to give her the weirdest look she'd ever seen.

She got the movies and gave her friend one more farewell before returning to Arcee in the driveway.

"You alright?" Arcee asked her. Rachel hopped on the bike, wiping her eyes again. "Yeah, I'm okay." It was a big fat lie, and it was obvious. She felt horrible. She felt even more homesick than she had been originally. Even if this wasn't her brightest idea, she at least got to say goodbye to Elaine. And hopefully her mom could know she was okay.

When she arrived back, she went to place her things in her room. Before she went to check on Bumblebee again, she looked through the backpack Elaine had packed for her.

She pulled out a bunch of instant food stuffs and even a plug in kettle. She'd stuffed some chocolates and even some popcorn in there. She bit on the inside of her cheek in a bid to fight off another bout of tears. It failed miserably.

* * *

B ~~~

It had only been a day since the incident, and Rachel had come to see Bee any chance she had. Though, she did usually have to spend time with Ratchet as he took samples from her. Ratchet cursed the work, saying this sort of science was meant for the mad scientist, Wheeljack. As much as they could use his help, they would have to make due without him for a while longer.

It wouldn't be too much longer for Rachel. They would have to do this a lot sooner than they wanted to. Optimus claimed they would need to abandon the bunker soon. The Decepticons would find them in this rock. They couldn't keep hiding forever.

He wondered how the transition would be for her. They had some small, superficial similarities, but she had been an organic creature. They way their bodies worked was completely different.

Of all the things she could be doing in her last days of being human, she chose to spend them while Bee was still in Ratchet's care. He had told her previously she didn't have to be by him all the time. Regardless of what he said, her excuse was that she just wanted to. The company was nice, but there was a tinge of guilt lingering in his processor.

She held up a small box to him with some pictures on it. It took him a moment to figure out what it was, but it eventually clicked when he read the title.

"You know, when I said I wanted to watch those movies, I didn't expect you'd have them the next day." Bumblebee burst with laughter.

"I saw Elaine yesterday. She gave me the ones I let her borrow a while ago." Rachel explained. She had brought her laptop and all three movies for them to watch together while he was stuck on Ratchet's med table.

"How did you convince Optimus to let you do that?" Bee asked her, his words a little fuzzier than usual because of the damage to his neck.

Ratchet spoke up from the corner of the med bay, setting up an energon syringe. "I think after what happened, he's decided to be a little more lenient regarding her whereabouts. As long as she's not gone for a long period of time, of course."

"Why's that?" Bumblebee squinted his eyes at Rachel a little. After everything, it would be wrong for him to not worry about her. It was his his responsibility.

"To… help her remain calm, I guess. She had a bit of a meltdown when we brought you here." Ratchet gave a side eye to Rachel as he spoke about her.

"Ratchet, you didn't have to go say that…" Rachel grumbled quietly.

"A meltdown?"

"A radioactive meltdown, and I'm very unstable right now." she said, her tone heavy with sarcasm. She was trying to change the subject, and it didn't take him until later to realize it had worked.

"That doesn't sound new though…" he teased quietly.

He saw her raise a hand to smack him on the arm, hesitating and lowering it again as she knew she'd just hurt herself. He watched her as she relaxed a little but let out a small sigh. Her eyes glanced over to Ratchet as he left the med bay for a bit, then looked back to meet his gaze.

"I had another one of those dreams again last night." she admitted to him quietly.

"You didn't tell anyone?" he asked. He was a little more tense now from this revelation.

"I wanted to talk about it with you first..."

* * *

A ~~~

Cybertron was going downhill fast, and everyone knew it. They were just keeping quiet about it. Nobody talked about it except Optimus Prime and his lieutenants.

It didn't take long to get the hang of their new life for both Aurora and Punch Buggy. Everyone was struggling with the transition, so it wasn't too hard to fit in with the crowd. Though there was a handful of bots who actually knew combat, and they stood out.

She still missed her old life. She missed her construction work and repairing buildings. It was a simpler, less stressful life than this. Aurora was not a fighter, nor was she sure she would be able to get the hang of training. She felt less competent the more they tried to drill the training into her head. Perhaps it was mostly from the denial of wanting to become something else, but she did try. She just wasn't very good at it.

More time went on and the more it felt like she could never go back to that sort of life. How could everyone learn to forgive each other after killing so many? One side would win, and the other would be wiped out or imprisoned.

Whatever the outcome, life would never go back to how it was.

Aurora's hand was outstretched, her fingertips only just grazing the energon container. She looked back up in the ventilation shaft she had climbed through to get into the energon storage room. She was starving, feeling like her circuits would go dry at any second if she didn't replenish herself soon.

She dropped down from the vent, deciding to try a different way. She hung from the edge, grabbing ahold of a gap between the small covering and the shaft itself. He other arm began reaching out again to grab a cube. She felt her spark drop into her belly when it nearly slipped from her fingers, but she was able to get it balanced once again. She didn't know if anyone was outside the room's door, but an energon explosion would be loud.

She wasn't used to stealing, but had to learn a few things here and there to get by. She was thankful she had figured it out from others she had watched. Though, she had a lot to learn still.

She froze as the doors slid open. She then heard her superior officer's voice stepping into the small room. "So, you go from being a nuisance to being a petty thief. What more will you do to aggravate me?" Prowl grumbled, stepping out from behind a stack of cubes.

"I could do quite a few things if you tick me off enough. I know some people." she said with a smile, laughing lightly.

"It's not funny, Aurora."  
"By the Allspark, Prowl, I missed the callout for energon rations for the past two days. Nobody would believe me and said I was just lying for handouts." She went ahead and got to the ground, placing the cube back.

"Then you come speak to me, soldier. I'm responsible for you." he said with a heavy sigh.

"Fine, fine. May I have one now?" she asked, stepping backwards to grab one again.

"No." he turned to head out the door, beckoning her to follow. She was tempted to throw one of the cubes at the back of his head, but that definitely wouldn't end well. It probably would mean no energon for two full weeks for her. She slumped after him.

"Okay, what horrible duties will you give me this time? Cleaning the oil showers again?"

"Your thieving skills will be useful elsewhere." He said, not looking down at her as he spoke. "I'm taking you to Ultra Magnus."

"So he can hand out my punishment?" she asked with a raised brow plate.

"Close. But it'll be a fair enough punishment. Besides, it's not going to be an easy task."

"I don't like the sound of where this is going..." she muttered, catching up with him.

Prowl took her to one of the main hangers to one of the launching bays. Mostly for bigger groups of people in bigger ships. There were multiple ships, each with a platoon of their own boarding. This was a lot bigger than she had anticipated.

She looked to Prowl. "You're… going to send me off with them?" She felt like her spark was sinking further and further downwards. The inevitability of death hung in the air, and it wasn't just from her.

"I believe you would be a true asset to this team. It's not so much a punishment as it is an opportunity for you to learn." he told her, turning to finally look at her.

"I've never been on anything like this before… what if I ruin the mission?"

"You will not be engaging with them. Simply observing."

A bit of weight came off her shoulders, but that thought still clung to her. She was a coward and she knew it. If there was not a guarantee of coming back, she wanted nothing to do with it.

And anything could go wrong. It always did.

* * *

R ~~~

Rachel brought her knees up to her chest, hugging them with her arms as she finished telling Bumblebee what she knew.

He remained completely silent as she explained what she remembered. To her surprise, he seemed more upset than even she was as he stared off into nothing.

The both of them sat outside. She enjoyed the fresh air, taking long breaths as she calmed herself down. These memories definitely didn't give her good feelings.

She flinched a little when he finally spoke. He had been quiet for a while. "If you don't want to tell everyone about this, I'd understand." he said to her.

"Why do you say that?" she was genuinely surprised with him. She expected him to want to tell Optimus like last time.

"These are personal, and I wouldn't want you to feel like you have to explain yourself to them. They're your memories and thoughts, after all."

"It sort of feels a little embarrassing compared to the rest of you guys."

Bumblebee raised a brow plate at the word she used. "Why embarrassed?"

"I didn't like fighting. I felt like I wanted to run and hide most of the time…" The words came from her mouth as if she'd known about it this whole time. So far, the memories that were coming back to her weren't very good. Mostly ones someone wouldn't want to remember. What irony that previously she wanted to learn of her past and get her memories back, only to find out she didn't really want them now and that they frightened her. There were fuzzy memories of some good times with the Autobots she still was trying to recollect, but who knew when those would come back. She let her chin rest on her knees. "I was a coward."

"I don't care what they told you back on Cybertron, but it's not wrong to be scared. Some just grew numb to it over time. Do you think I was always throwing myself out into danger?"

The thought of it made her giggle a little. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised. You do like to throw yourself into trouble. You should hear some of the stories Ratchet has told me." she said with a faint smile. And she had many stories. She especially liked the story of when he was younger, he would race into the head of the fight and get tossed by the first brute and be out for the rest of the fight. It was nice to know he makes mistakes too. Just like she does. Perhaps not as horribly made mistakes like hers, but these beings weren't perfect either. She didn't feel as flawed as she initially felt.

He let out a unhappy huff, only for his expression to quickly return into a smile he couldn't hold back. "Now you're starting to sound like Ratchet too."

She laughed more this time. "That means you need to get out of that med bay soon so I don't have to be around him so much." She knew she was being harsh to the old medic bot. She had been getting along with him more and more lately. Especially with all his old stories he told her.

"I'm out now, aren't I?"

She gave him a skeptical look. "I mean healed. Out of there for good. You know what I mean."

"Right, right." Bumblebee looked her over for a moment. "You changed the subject earlier but I still wanted to ask you about it. You… had a meltdown?"

Rachel covered her face in embarrassment. "Sort of. I guess what happened sort of triggered some emotions to come out that Aurora had. That's what Optimus tells me at least."

"But it was because you saw me injured? That was what triggered it?"

"Yes." she said simply. He noticed her body temperature was increasing once again, her cheeks turning red. "I was worried about you a lot. I told you about that already."

He was going to push more at it, but she really didn't seem like she wanted to discuss it. "Are you alright now?"

"I feel like I don't have control of what I say sometimes. It's like this second personality comes out of nowhere and ruins everything." she uncovered her face and let her chin rest again on her knees. "I don't really like Aurora."

"Well, she _is_ you."

Rachel shook her head. "No. No she's not." He didn't really understand her meaning.

"Why don't you like her?" he asked, leaning forward a little to look at her a little better as she was curling herself up.

"She was stupid. Made stupid decisions. Plus she was very self centered."

Bumblebee sighed, not understanding her very well. Was she going to forever hate herself then? They were the same person, only in different situations. "You only know a few memories. Don't jump to conclusions about her when you don't even know what kind of person you were."

That was the first time he had ever really lectured her about something. She just found it odd of him. He usually was so willing to agree with her on things. Though he understood if had his own opinions. She prefered it. "I know but… fine." she didn't want to fight him about it. She really didn't want to admit it, but he was right. She didn't really know all of herself yet.

Before they returned inside, he insisted they start watching those movies she'd brought back. So for the rest of the morning, they found a good distraction in the Star Wars movies. He liked them a lot. The way he smiled through the best parts of the movies made her whole body feel warm. Mostly though in her chest. It made her unable to stop smiling. She was thankful she could still have these moments. It was a good way to spend her last day. Sitting and watching movies with a friend. A friend she never knew she needed.

* * *

Chapter tennn! (I'm posting this early because I got it edited early) I can't believe I've made it to two digits. Thank you everyone for reading and for your wonderful comments. It keeps me wanting to write for you guys!

I did also want to point out that I've made a DeviantArt account to post some pictures I've drawn for the story. I'm also debating starting to turn this into a comic, which I will be posting on there too (Or somewhere else if I can find somewhere better). If you'd like to take a peek at my account, you can grab a link on my profile.

Thank you again for reading! You guys are awesome!


	11. Chapter 11

R ~~~

She sat up and stared at her new body laying on the table beside her own. She flinched when she felt a pinch at her shoulder. "Ratchet! I said warn me when you-"

"It's better when you don't know so you aren't tense. Now stop moving or it will hurt more." Ratchet said to her. He had been collecting a decent amount of her blood lately. Not even Bumblebee knew why. When she asked Ratchet, he would say it was just in case. When he was finished with her shoulder, he had her help with an IV in her inner arm.

Optimus, Bumblebee, and Arcee were gathered around in the small medic's lab. It wasn't really meant to have this many in the small room, but it was better to have everyone present for what was about to occur. Almost everyone, that is. Ironhide found better things to be occupied with. She didn't really understand what was wrong with the grump.

"Now Rachel, I'm going to be administering a… sedative. It will make your body non-functioning - in a deep sleep similar to how Aurora is now. We plan to put this body on ice until we can think of a way to get you back in this human body one day." Ratchet spoke with such certainty, making her feel less nervous than she had initially felt. Maybe he was trying to make her feel better.

There was a chance she could be human again. She didn't know when or how, but they were keeping their promises. They would try to find a way, and that was what mattered to her.

"Rachel." Bumblebee stepped up to the table she sat on, and she laid back as Ratchet had then instructed her.

"Bee. Be right there when I wake up, okay?" she asked him quietly. The fear of possibly not waking up at all came flooding back, tears leaking down her cheeks for the millionth time that week. She wasn't sure how she had so many tears in her.

"I will." he reassured her. She watched as his hand came down near her own, his palm opening to take her hand.

She bit the inside of her cheek, her face turning red again as she placed her hand in his much larger palm, trying her best to stop the tears. His metal felt so warm. If this was the end, she was glad she had been able to meet him at least.

That's when an idea came to her. She sat up, hearing the protest from Ratchet out of the corner of the room. She beckoned Bumblebee down to her level before she carefully crawled over to him, careful not to pull out the IV in her arm.

"What is it?" he asked quietly. They both were being watched like hawks by the others, but right now she didn't care. She might not get a chance to do this again. Ever.

She placed a kiss on his cheek, drawing back to see his wide, confused eyes. She had explained what kissing meant when they watched films together. She wasn't too sure if he fully grasped the concept though.

"Thank you." she said to him softly. "I wanted to do that… in case one day I regret ever not being able to."

He was very still, making her wonder if she had activated an off switch.

Her cheeks still were burning and her head was spinning with regret now as she went and laid herself back down on the metal table.

Before Ratchet could continue his work, Bumblebee finally spoke again, as if coming back online. His words gave her instant relief. "Don't treat this as a goodbye." Bee told her. "It's a beginning, okay?"

She stared at him. His words made her chest tight. She didn't fully understand these feelings she had for him, but it was then she silently made a vow to herself not to run away from them anymore.

She laid her head down, getting comfortable. As comfortable as you could be on a giant metal slab table.

As Ratchet administered the sedative, slowly she was told to count backwards from ten to one. She only made it to seven as things started getting blurry. Once she was at five, everything was pitch black, and yet she still felt conscious of what was going on. It was like being in a dark room full of nothingness. Absolute nothingness surrounding her.

It felt as though she were squeezed into a thin tube and moving at the speed of light where there was only darkness around her, small lights sporadically flashing as she passed. She didn't know where she was. Or what was really happening. And at the same time she didn't care. It was peaceful and serene. Everything felt light and weightless as the flickers of lights passed her. She could bundle herself up and sleep for eternity if she tried.

But eventually everything came to a halt. The fleeting wonderful, peaceful sensation she'd felt was gone. What she felt now was cold, and yet hot at the same time. The first movement she could feel was in her hands, fidgeting and twitching, then eventually the twitching moved up her arms. At the center of her chest, she felt a burning heat. The heat was overpowering yet reassuring in a strange way. It was nothing she had ever really felt before.

Everyone in the room flinched as Rachel's eyes shot open. Her two blue optics looked around frantically, looking for Bumblebee. When her eyes laid on his worried expression directed towards her, relief washed over her. She remembered him, and she had that weird feeling towards him still. She was still herself. Not Aurora. She sat upwards quickly, hands coming up to her chest and neck. She struggled mentally with still feeling the need to breathe. It started to scare her a bit when she couldn't feel that rush of air filling her lungs. But she didn't have lungs anymore. Ratchet came in close to her quickly. "Try speaking. Yes, your memory of breathing is still there. It's still a reflex for you." he told her. "It should pass eventually."

"Ratchet." Rachel tested the words, still struggling with figuring out how to work her new body. Even the littlest things like speaking, moving, even blinking were different. "Bee." her eyes shot over to him. He was beside her now, away from where her human body laid. It was going to take some getting used to that they were similar sizes. Almost. "I'm still me." she told him.

Bee was about to speak before Arcee patted her head and spoke for him. "Yes, you are still you. We told you that would happen, didn't we?"

"I didn't really know if you were saying that just to calm me down or not..." Rachel apologized. She raised her hands to look at them. She then looked over her whole body. Her new body.

Her plating was a faded bluish had round blue eyes, somewhat reminding her of Bumblebee's in a way. Her helmet formed at the bridge of her nasal region, going up and over the center of her head. She had a short, jutting cylinder shape near her temples. She didn't seem to have forms like the others did. Perhaps that was because she didn't have a transformable form yet. And she was smaller than Bee, a height between Arcee's and his.

Optimus stepped forward, kneeling down just a little so he was level with her. He was still much bigger than her. "How do you feel?" he asked her.

"Weird. Everything feels… different." She told him. She brought her hands up again and stared at them. _Everything_ felt strange. Her sense of taste was completely gone. Her sense of smell was something entirely different, similar to her sense of touch. She wasn't too sure she liked having these much duller senses.

"Just take as much time as you need then." Bumblebee told her, stepping closer again to her beside the table she laid on.

She turned her head to see him, her hands coming to her head as a painful headache came to her from the fast movement.

"Take it easy, kid. Your servos haven't been used in some years." Ratchet said, coming to the other side of her beside the table with that energon injector again. "This might help a bit."

She protested about getting another shot, but it was in vain as he pierced beneath the plating of her shoulder. She looked to Bumblebee pitifully, as if he would be able to help her somehow. She felt a strange sensation in her arm, and it made her want to tap her fingers on the table. It was a sensation she would have to get used to. Energon.

"So how do I become a car?" she asked straight out to Bee.

Bumblebee snickered. "Aren't there other things you should maybe figure out first before worrying about that part? You haven't even stood up yet."

She jutted her bottom jaw. That was a challenge. She turned herself to hang her legs off the side of the table, lowering herself to stand. It lasted for a few seconds before she collapsed onto the floor. Bee attempted to catch her, but she fell so awkwardly, she landed right on her butt.

"For Primus sake, Rachel. I never told you that you could stand yet!" Ratchet nagged.

When she was able to finally stand, she was wobbly in the knees. She didn't know what it was like to be an infant, but it felt like this is what it must be like to walk for the first time.

"Is this all going to be this difficult to figure out?" Rachel asked, the frustration obvious in her tone.

"This is a whole new body for you. Have some patience." Ratchet explained to her, shaking his head at her.

Bumblebee placed a hand on her shoulder. She felt this weird sensation in her chest at the way he looked at her.

"Here, try actually walking. It'll come back to you quicker than you think." he told her, taking both of her hands and holding them out with his own. She gave him a surprised look.

She took a few steps with him as he stepped backwards, her gaze now hard on her feet. She was having a difficult time controlling what she wanted her body to do. She didn't have toes to help with balance anymore. It was a completely different system she would have to learn.

"There, see? You're already a pro at walking." Arcee said from the sidelines, stepping over towards the two of them.

"I wouldn't say pro." Rachel told her, looking down towards Arcee. That definitely wasn't something she thought she would have to consider. Arcee was shorter than her.

Ironhide snorted. "If you would stop moping and actually do something about it, it makes things a little easier, doesn't it?"

Rachel squinted her eyes at the taller, dark robot. "Why don't you try switching bodies and then come tell me what you think, buddy." The words slipped out of her mouth. She covered her mouth, shaking her head frantically. Behind her hands she apologized profusely.

"Buddy? Girl, I ain't nobody's buddy." Ironhide snapped back at her.

"You got that right." she replied. She didn't mean the disrespect. She didn't understand how to control these words that decided to slip out. She declared silently that Aurora must have been a very unpleasant person. What she didn't understand was why she acted nothing like her.

Optimus spoke up this time before she could try to apologize again. "Rachel, why don't Arcee and Bumblebee join you outside? Perhaps it will benefit for you to have a bigger area to learn how this body works."

Arcee led her out quickly with Bumblebee following in behind. She pouted and fussed as they pushed her along, wanting to apologize to Ironhide. They decided things would be better kept where they are and not risk another mishap.

"Rachel, what was that about?" Bumblebee asked her once the base doors were shut behind the three of them. She shook her head again, hands to her face

"I don't know."

* * *

B ~~~

Bumblebee was at a loss. How was he supposed to explain how to scan a car and transform to Rachel. She had all memories and functions relating to when she was human. Honestly, this was like teaching a protoform how to operate. Optimus wanted him and Arcee to teach her. But he didn't see himself as a good teacher.

Rachel stared at her old, beat up car that sat in the corner of one of their storage rooms. Her eyes squinted as she then spoke. "I didn't think you would save this thing… let alone put it in a closet."

Arcee laughed. "If we left evidence lying anywhere, someone would find it. We have to keep it somewhere." she told her.

"Keeping it like a trinket." Bumblebee added.

"So… will I turn into this beat up car then?"

"Not a beat up version of it. You saw how I did it before, didn't you?" Bumblebee asked her.

"R-right." she said hesitantly. She wanted to forget he had to turn into her old car for a brief period of time. But now it was her turn to try it.

Arcee then spoke "Normally you are created able to know this ability. You just can't remember it."

"Can't you teach me?" Rachel asked.

Bee and Arcee both looked at one another. Arcee spoke again. "I wouldn't say it's that we can't, it's just a difficult process to explain. I'd recommend Ratchet be the one to teach you, but he's busy making sure your human body is maintained correctly."

"So… mentally, you sort of need to, I guess, want to be the car. You make yourself the vehicle." Bumblebee attempted to explain.

Rachel couldn't help herself but snicker a little as she spoke her thoughts aloud. "Be one with the car?"

"You could say that, yeah." Bee didn't seem to understand her reference, but he seemed relieved by her attempt at making a joke after just going through a body change. She had to try some humor. The situation wasn't as bad as it seemed to be. She was alive, that's what mattered, right?

She closed her eyes for a moment and began to go back into her memories. She thought of the flashbacks that had come back to her. She tried to picture it all in her head again, what she felt like at the time. Maybe if she could remember a little bit more, she could do it. She tried to think of a time she could have possibly transformed. Rachel knew that Aurora must have had some sort of alternate form. Something began to flicker the deeper she went into her memory. A small flicker, but it was something at least. Building and fixing. It had to do with her work days as a construction worker on Cybertron.

She quickly opened her eyes and stared at the car, hoping that would be enough. Still nothing.

Bumblebee coughed back a laugh at her failed attempt once more.

"You know, some encouragement might be needed right now." Arcee lectured him, giving him a swat on the shoulder. "You're no help." She went over to Rachel and patted her shoulder "You're getting there. Just sleep on it. Maybe something will eventually click for you."

Sleeping was a whole different story. She couldn't figure it out the first night until dawn had broken. Then she was finally able to doze off for a few hours. Though, she wasn't sure she liked sleeping as a Cybertronian. She didn't dream like she used to. It felt like mashed up imagery from her memories playing through her head. Nothing about Aurora the first night, but mostly memories of being human. If this was the sort of thing she would have to sleep to at night, she would very quickly grow homesick. She wasn't very good at pretending to be an adult. She _was_ an adult, but she did miss her mom.

The next day, Rachel was outside with Bumblebee. She sat by the edge of the canyon like she always did. She had a blank face as she tried to listen to him, but most of it blurred out from how tired she felt. He was trying to find a way to get her to transform, or at least scan something. Everyone else tried to explain it, but nothing came close except Ratchet's confusing anatomy lesson.

"Optimus told me, unless you figure out a way to transform, you won't be able to leave the base." he explained to her.

She didn't say just held an exhausted look. This tired feeling felt very similar when she was human.

"Are you even listening?" he grumbled, squinting his large blue eyes at her.

"Yes. I'm… trying." she told him,

He stared at her for some time before he stepped over towards her, taking a seat beside her. "You okay?"

Rachel was silently enjoying that he had asked. She looked to him, now realizing how close he had come to her. She was feeling warm all over again.

"If I'm going to be honest, I think I'd rather be human than this right now. It was simpler."

"It might not be very simple to… get back to being human." he told her quietly, his words slow as if choosing them carefully.

"I know. But I have to hope for something." she said.

He was quiet again, then she felt him place his hand on her own. She tensed up, feeling even warmer now.

"Would it be selfish to ask to… try to enjoy it while it lasts?" he asked her.

She looked at him, at first expecting him to be joking, trying to make light of the situation. But he was serious. His large blue eyes stared into her own. She felt like she was melting.

"Who knows, you might actually enjoy it." he continued. he continued.

Of course she would do it for him. It made her feel uncomfortable thinking the sorts of things she would do for him. He had saved her life numerous times now and she knew he would do it countless more times regardless of if she liked it or not. It was the least she could do. But was that why she wanted to make him happy though?

The look he also gave her was one she could never say no to. She let out a small sigh. "As long as you'll… keep doing human stuff with me." she said bashfully. "I don't ever want to forget that part of myself."

He laughed lightly. "You don't even have to ask for that."

She couldn't help an embarrassed smile. After a few moments of staring at each other, they both cleared their throats and separated. Bumblebee stood himself back up and offered to help her up.

"Let's try this again. I have an idea." he said.

She took his hand as he helped her back up. He then began his lecturing again. "Let's just start small. Give me your arm." he instructed her.

She gave him a confused look. "My arm?"

He stepped towards her. "Every Cybertronian that was part of the war was outfitted with weapons. Ranged combat and close combat."

He raised her arm to look a little closer. "I'm not sure which arm is which, but we'll have to try it." he let her arm go and stepped back, holding out one of his arms. She watched as it began changing into a familiar gun she was used to seeing.

She copied as he did, holding her arm out in front of her. She gave her fingers a little wiggle in front of her, still not used to the sight of her own body yet.

"Now, the best way I can describe it is like an extra movement. Something like… a sixth finger."

"A what?"

Bumblebee couldn't help a snort of laughter. "You have five fingers on each hand, right? Pretend there is a sixth somewhere. And you want to move it into a certain position. Like when you ball your fingers into a fist. But with this, you want to shift your arm into your weapon."

As soon as she was able to focus on her arm, pretending she had that extra thumb and tried to imagine moving it, the metal on her arm shifted. Not exactly how she wanted it to move, but it moved. A blade that only stuck out a little. It didn't look very deadly at that size.

"There you go. It's a start." he walked up to her and patted at her head teasingly. She wanted to stick her non-existent tongue out at him. "Now if only you could do that and become a car~"

"Just watch. When I'm able, I'll kick your ass in a race, car."

Bee snickered. "Yeah, no, I highly doubt that."

He was probably right.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading! I really hope you guys liked this chapter!

Finally the big moment has happened, but we still have a lot more to deal with now that she's in this body.

Thank you for the lovely comments! I'm really glad you guys are enjoying reading! I love reading and responding to all comments and critique, so don't be afraid to let me know how I'm doing! You guys are what keep me wanting to write!

EDIT 10/4 : I just want to say thank you to you guys for the favorites and follows! I'm so glad you guys are interested in my story.

If you guys would like to see a picture I drew for better accuracy of Rachel's new body, you can look at it here:

(slash)insanitypie(slash)art(slash)Practicing-poses-762143573


	12. Chapter 12

** I think I'll start putting all my stuff to say up here. Especially if I need to put updates on chapters and stuff... so people don't have to scroll a bunch.

**Update 11/18 : I am going on a hiatus for the holiday season so I can catch up with everything! I hope to have the next chapter up after new years! See you guys soon!

**Update 12/21 : Still here guys! Chapter is still planned to come out probably new years day? Probably maybe! I've been taking some time to go through and do some edits to previous chapters. Lotsa stuff I need to fix still. This is a good time to do it! Aaand the new Bumblebee movie is out and I'm dying inside. I've heard only good things about it, so I'm super excited to see it!

Hope you guys enjoy the chapter! I meant to get this done a little earlier this week but I got pretty busy.

Don't be afraid to leave comments and critique! I love hearing from everyone and their thoughts so far on the story!

I sort of wanted to talk about a little why I wanted to write this story. Yeah, I wanted to make a romance story with Bumblebee, but I really also wanted to write a story about the transition of going from becoming an organic into an inorganic. I can't image the trauma it could put on someone's mentality. And I feel it will make for some good moments from now and into the future.

This may be a romance, but I also intended it to be something about growing up a bit too. Rachel still acts very... childish, you could say. I've always wanted to write about a character going through that growing-up stage in life when you learn to live on your own.

I still have a lot to learn, and I'm still growing in my writing, so I appreciate any feedback you guys can give! Thank you so much for reading!

* * *

Chapter 12

A ~~~

Aurora jolted awake to the sound of a world shattering explosion. Everyone around her was already scrambling for cover as debris from the abandoned buildings around them began to collapse.

She had thought the fighting had stopped long enough for a stasis nap. How very wrong she was. She was exhausted after endless days of constant firefights.

Her team leader had called for a retreat to the back lines of the battlefield while a new group would cover their escape. She scurried along, trying to keep up with the retreating Autobots. She tried her best to ignore the fact she was climbing and tripping over the bodies of fallen comrades.

When she reached some level ground, she quickly shifted into her alternate mode and bolted ahead, just barely on the group's tail.

When they finally reached some cover near the back, everyone tossed themselves behind a large fallen statue for some cover. It all happened so fast, everyone just threw themselves behind the cover and landed on each other. She didn't know who any of her squadmates were, and nobody at the time seemed to want to know one another. Nobody knew who would die, so it was better not becoming too friendly with one another. At least not when bullets were flying at them.

"Incoming!" One of them shouted. It was already too late as the team was bombarded once again.

Everyone scrambled out from behind the cover to their best abilities. One didn't make it out in time as a missile landed.

All her senses were numb as her auditory sensors rang from being so close to the explosion. The others began to run again, this time further down the lines. She struggled as she ran to try and keep up with the others.

Right now all she could think about was Punchbuggy. She hadn't heard from her friend in days and she hated being seperated from her for so long. She just hoped she would see her back at the base. She needed to know she was alive. It was the only hope she had left in this war.

With the thought of Punchbuggy running through her processors, she transformed once more and sped off with her retreating group. She wanted to see her again. She was all she had left.

* * *

B ~~~

The feeling of a slight tap to her shoulder had her jolting awake. She curled back up into a tight ball she had been in at the realization it was only Bumblebee trying to wake her. He was crouched down to her level as she was huddled on the ground.

"Bee, I just felt like I got to sleep. Just a bit longer." she said, huddling herself back into the corner she had used to lie against when entering stasis. Or at least trying to. He still didn't fully grasp her habits. She was offered a stasis bed to lie on, but she said it was uncomfortable.

"You might be able to get better rest if you used that stasis bed. It's not as bad as you think." he told her.

"It's not that-." she stopped herself, and he noticing a flustered look on her face. "I just like it here more."

He wanted to ask what she had meant to say but he stopped himself as the footsteps of one of his comrades made their way towards them. Bulkhead loomed over the both of them as he passed by. "She's awake? Ratchet wants to see you today when you get a chance." he told her.

Rachel rested her metal cheek against the wall next to her. "Just another hour? Please?" she begged Bee.

Bulkhead let out a small chuckle. "Not sleeping well, kid?" he asked.

Rachel let out a soft, tired sigh. "I can't really figure it out. It's not like sleeping when I was human."

"I guess the best way to explain it is that it's sort of like turning everything off. Letting your body relax in a way." Bulkhead tried to explain. "What was it like to sleep as a human?"

"It was sort of like drifting off. Like fading, not just suddenly going offline like I'm supposed to." she said, resting her head on her knees pulled up against her chest.

Bulkhead scratched at the back of his head. "It saves time. It'll give you more time to recharge rather than just laying there waiting."

"There's a certain charm to it I wish I never took for granted." she said with a pout.

"It'll get easier. Once you figure it out, it'll be nicer. Right now it's dealing with the transition." Bulkhead said, then he continued on with his business, passing by the two of them. He called out to them before he was too far gone. "Besides, it's what you used to do before being a human. You should be able to catch on to it again."

Bumblebee brought his attention back onto Rachel. "One hour will go by quicker than you think. It's better to just get started with the day."

She lifted her head a bit, her blue optics just gazing over her knees toward him. Her eyes had the look of murder in them. "It's worth it. Trust me." she grumbled.

He decided to back off for now. Nothing today would be productive when she was this tired. "Fine. A couple hours, okay?"

The small smile on her face made it sort of worth it. She seemed relieved as she went to rest her cheek on the wall again, letting her eyes close.

Bee went to inform Ratchet she would be a bit delayed for her lessons today.

It had only been a couple days since her transition and things weren't going as good as they anticipated. They were running into more problems they hadn't considered at first. Her human mind was currently incapable of understanding their inorganic biology. The way they functioned and used their bodies was vastly different than how an organic's worked.

They had thought perhaps the memories she had back would be enough. Perhaps Optimus had been wrong about that. Ratchet nagged that he wouldn't have made this transition so fast for her if he had his say about it. She needed time to adjust and learn. But they didn't exactly have that sort of luxury of time anymore. Not when the Decepticons were close to finding their hideout. They had to leave this planet soon if they wanted to succeed.

Bumblebee thought back to the previous day. They had been successful in implanting a form onto her body. She had no way of remembering how to take a form, so linking a patch into her mind and forcing the form was their only option. Rachel had told him how strange the sensation had been. Like her skin was folding over itself, and yet there was no pain. Her description was a bit strange to him, but he did his best to interpret it. She liked to identify her current body parts as she would when she was human. When she was going over a physical with Ratchet the second day, she used terms like ears, stomach, throat, and brain. He found it endearing how much humanity she retained. He hoped she wouldn't change a bit in that aspect.

Now they had to teach her to transform, which was a whole different task on its own. He was able to teach her how to get her weapons out, but changing her whole form would be another trial. He honestly didn't look forward to it.

* * *

R ~~~

"...The thirteen primes. Out of them all, which one of them betrayed his brothers?" Ratchet was busy quizzing Rachel now on Cybertronian culture and history. When she wasn't trying to figure out how to transform, sleeping, or trying to watch television in the comms center, this is what she was stuck doing.

"Megatron?" she answered, not feeling very positive on that answer.

"Megatronus. Megatron took on his name from Megatronus. Supposedly the pits of Kaon gave him that name."

"What was the purpose of those pits exactly?" she asked, the thought of pit fights making her feel uneasy. Why was this race so prone to such barbarics despite being so technologically advanced?

"It was a pastime of the workers. Gladiatorial fights. Kaon supplied most of the raw materials for all of Cybertron. I'm sure you've probably visited the place once in your lifetime. It used to be popular."

"But the war started there?" she asked. She drew her knees up to her chest as she sat on one of his lab tables, listening to his tales.

"Most of the Decepticons were workers in those pits. There were a lot of politics that went into it. Over time things became very convoluted. We didn't always used to be so different."

"So why such a large split? Why did the war happen?" Rachel asked quietly.

Ratchet sighed a bit, looking back at her curious eyes. She saw a softness in him for once. "You could say there was a lot of inequality a long time ago. Not everyone received the same treatment. I'm sure you'll be able to understand a little more when you have more of your memories back."

"The more I learn, the more I'm not sure I want them back." she admitted to him. She had only really talked to Bumblebee about her thoughts on these things, but Ratchet seemed to be in a good talking mood today. She knew she really shouldn't keep them too hidden from everyone.

"I envy you a little, kid." he admitted with a small smirk. "A lot of us would like to be able to forget about this war."

The old bot gave a small sigh, brightening up just a little when his attention was on her again. "Not getting tired of this old mech's stories? I'm surprised."

She quickly shook her head. "N-not at all. It's not every day I get to learn about a new planet and aliens, you know? Even… if I am one technically." Even if these tales did intimidate her a bit, they were interesting nonetheless. She could tell Ratchet had been through a lot, but he enjoyed talking about his experiences.

The old bot changed the subject, coming around her on the table and poking something at the back of her neck. "Bee told me you haven't been able to enter stasis very well."

She hesitated before speaking, not too sure how to put her feelings into words. "I'm not really sure what I need to do. Eventually I just get so tired I feel like I pass out completely, but that usually takes a while. Most of the time I feel uncomfortable."

Ratchet raised a brow plate. "Uncomfortable?"

She felt herself getting embarrassed by her predicament. She was used to being against something like a pillow or holding something in her arms when she slept, which is why she liked the wall to rest her head against. She always had a hard time falling asleep early on as a human. When she'd gone through high school, she had been diagnosed with insomnia. She found techniques and it got better as she got older, but now it seemed like it was coming full circle. "I like to sleep against the wall. I don't really… understand why but it feels more comfortable to be surrounded. I feel less afraid I guess."

A small smirk came to the doc's face. He was definitely finding this amusing. "And what exactly are you afraid of here, Rachel?"

She gave a small shrug, her head lowering a bit in her shame. She let out a soft sigh as she told him. "Everything going on right now."

He stared at her and was silent for a short time before he finally spoke. "Maybe we could make some space for you. You should get your own quarters so you don't have to keep using Bumblebee's."

Her chest hurt at the thought of being by herself and secluded. She was an adult, and she knew she could take care of herself, but mentally at every moment she felt like she was ready to break. Being around Bee helped her keep her mind off the bad things.

Her mouth opened to speak, the only sound coming out being a croak. She had to think a little about what she was about to say so it didn't sound weird.

"Bee told me he didn't mind me staying in his room." she told him quietly. Her stomach area felt all warm when saying it. But she hadn't lied. Bee told her she could stay whenever she wanted. She was taking advantage of that generosity. "I don't mind it either."

Ratchet gave a small huff from her stubbornness. "Well then how do we fix this exactly?"

She began to think of what could possibly help the situation. Something to hold onto and hug up against would probably help. Though to these giant robots, there really was nothing soft or cuddly honestly. She wasn't sure what she would do.

She jumped a little when she heard Bumblebee calling her name from outside of the lab. He eventually poked his head in, looking to her with his big light blue eyes. "Everything going alright in here?" he asked.

She really didn't want to tell him how she wanted to stay housed in his room. She was already very embarrassed. "Ratchet was telling me about Kaon." Rachel told him with a smile, getting herself down for the lab table.

"You know Ratchet, there are much nicer places to talk about than Kaon."

Ratchet waved him off. "Oh, don't be smart with me. Every place on Cybertron has a history and importance. Kaon used to be a nice place."

Rachel gave a small smile, squinting her eyes at Bumblebee. "Seems like Bee here should be sitting in on these lectures. Could teach him something." she teased him. She would have to find more ways to tease him for the future. It was fun when she was the one doing it at least, not the other way around.

Bee gave her an unamused look, though his smirk was still bright on his face. "That's like asking me to jump into a tank of Sharkticons. No thanks."

Ratchet shook his head and waved them off. "Why don't you two go practice transforming for a while. I've got a major processor ache now."

Bumblebee took her wrist, pulling her along out of the med bay.

Rachel was surprised at him, feeling a bit flustered as he led her on.

"So, think you have made any progress since last time we practiced?" he asked her as they made their way toward the large hanger they used for most of the training.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that." she muttered.

He released her hand and looked back to her, waiting for her to continue.

She had her head lowered a bit, but her eyes looked up towards him. "I had another one of those dreams again. I think I transformed in this one."

Bee was quiet. She couldn't quite read his expression, but it wasn't what she expected. It was sort of blank, but concerned. He tried to correct himself a bit by showing some sort of surprise."That's good news. I didn't expect your memories to be coming back so fast now."

"What's wrong, Bee?" she asked him. She knew there was something on his mind. He wasn't very good at hiding things from her.

He shook his head. "It's nothing. I just… don't look forward to you actually remembering most of the war. I'm sure you would benefit without the extra baggage." he said to her, continuing onwards towards their destination.

She followed beside him. She gave a small smile to him, in hopes of cheering him up a little. "You came out of the war and you're doing pretty good for yourself, aren't you?" she asked him. "You're usually cheerie, silly, and an ass sometimes even through the hardships. Heh, I could learn to stay this way as long as you help me."

The warm, glowing look he gave her made her chest feel hot. Overwhelmingly hot. "I'll do my best to keep you positive then." he said with a small laugh, giving the top of her head a teasing pat.

He turned the conversation back towards the training they were about to start. "So you actually remember being able to transform? Like the whole process of it?"

"I have a memory of it. It's like a weird muscle memory, but I just still have to figure out how to get from A to B." she told him.

"I think we'll have better luck this time around."

And she did to her surprise. After some more practicing with her weapons, she practiced the real thing with Bumblebee. Her first few attempts were only half transformations. A few times her legs would make it into a car form but her upper body wouldn't budge. She would lose balance and her face would go straight into the floor. Bee was trying not to laugh, but he was doing a pretty bad job at it.

When she was finally able to reach a full transformation, she couldn't do much yet. It would be like learning how to use a whole new body but with parts of a car now. Bumblebee did his best to explain it, but it was a little more complicated than just learning to walk all over again.

* * *

R ~~~

Rachel spent most of that day with lectures with Ratchet, and a good few hours with Bumblebee learning to transform. She honestly didn't think transforming would make her so tired, but once the wave of fatigue hit her, she fell hard.

She did notice the busy feeling in the air for everyone lately. After she had changed, everyone was hustling to round things up. They hadn't, or weren't going to tell her, but it was obvious the more she saw the others carrying cargo and supplies. They were leaving.

She had made up her mind that she wanted to see her home one last time. She had a way of hiding now, so it wouldn't be too much of an issue, would it?

She skittered into Bumblebee's private quarters and found her spot by the corner again. What awaited her was an energon cube and what looked like a makeshift bed. It wasn't angled strangely like the other stasis beds, but it was flat and pressed into the corner for her.

Her chest felt fluttery at the generosity. She went to make herself comfortable in her spot, taking a few sips of the energon here and there. The stuff was refreshing and rejuvenating. She honestly thought she would hate the it, but with whatever taste receptors this body had, they definitely agreed with this yummy treat.

She was caught off guard as Bee entered the room. It made her wonder if it was him who set this up or Ratchet. Unless Ratchet had told Bumblebee everything she'd said. She gave an awkward smile to him.

"Like the bed? Ratchet told me you wanted to stay in here. He also told me more about your sleeping issues." he told her.

She felt heavy and her chest felt like it was twisting. She was glad he had done this, but she wished she had some sort of privacy when talking to these robots. She knew Bee wouldn't understand the implications, but it still made her flustered that he knew how much she wanted to stay in his room.

He made his way over and sat beside her on her makeshift stasis bed. If she was going to be honest, it made the situation even more heated for her.

"Missing your old room, I'm assuming?" he asked her.

"Yeah. And home. I miss having my real bed and real food. Can't really have either of those now though."

"It's… still possible. You can have that again in the future." he corrected her, leaning forward a little from the wall to look at her directly.

"I don't know, Bee. I want to believe it's possible, but…" she paused. She didn't want to tell him she thought they were all lying, but she had her doubts. They were wanting to leave this planet and return to Cybertron. However long that would take. Years, centuries? If that were the case, she would never be able to see her mother again. Her mother might be gone way before Rachel would be able to return to this planet.

"Maybe we could visit my home city? One last time?" she asked, giving her head a small tilt in question to him.

His mouth parted to speak, but nothing came out. Finally after some consideration from him, he was finally able to spit out an answer. "I dont...I-I'll have to ask Optimus."

"Bee, I know what's happening. Don't pretend I don't know you are all planning to leave soon." her gazed lowered a little to the ground as she brought her knees up to her chest a little tighter. "I want to see my home again. One more time." she felt like she was choking on her words a little. She wasn't able to cry as she was now, but her emotions still were capable of portraying the sobbing of it. She just didn't have tears like a human.

Bumblebee remained silent and let out a long sigh. It didn't take much convincing from her, but he seemed to give in a little. "I'll see what I can do." he said quietly.

"Thank you." she thanked him. Rachel hesitated for a moment, deciding to lean against him, her cheek resting on his shoulder.

"Rachel…?" he asked her, looking a bit confused.

She didn't know how to explain it to him. She felt so awkward now but she really wanted this moment. "Can we just stay like this? Please?" she asked quietly.

She felt like her whole entire body was burning with embarrassment. She was stiff and unsure at first but eventually was able to relax against him a little. She had to admit, it was much better than a wall.

He seemed unsure on what to do with himself. "You okay?" he asked her.

She gave a soft smile to him, looking up to him from his shoulder. Her arms wrapped around his one, using it as something to hold onto. She noticed a smile tugging at his own mouth from what she did. She let out a relieved, tired sigh. "I am now."


	13. Chapter 13

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a great holiday season! AND I hope everyone went to go see that new Bumblebee movie!~

It's an absolutely amazing movie. It really saved the franchise in my opinion. We just need people to support it and give Travis Knight the attention he deserves! I imagine it's having a hard time mainly because there are so many other big movies out right now (Plus nobody wants to give TFers a chance after Michael Bay screwed the franchise... In my opinion)

Anyway! I should be going back to a "every 3 weeks" posting schedule!

I have added transition tags for each break, so you don't have to struggle with knowing who's perspective it is. It's self explanatory, but if you need a key, here it is:

R : Rachel

B : Bumblebee

A : Aurora

Should be easy to follow!~

I also wanted to thank you guys for your encouraging words and your wonderful comments. I seriously appreciate every single one of them! You guys are awesome, and I really hope you stay tuned in for the chapters! It means a lot knowing you guys are enjoying this! And don't be afraid to let me know how I'm doing! I need feedback so I can make this better!

Please let me know if you see anything that needs editing! Especially if it's super confusing. I try my best to go through it all, but it seems I still miss some parts. You can PM me if you see anything!

Hope you guys enjoy the new chapter! Have a Happy New Year!

 **Update 1/28 - Chapter 14 is still coming! Its just slow, I'm really sorry! I have no good excuse except I finally got red dead redemption 2 hehe. Edits are almost done and chapter will be out this week! I think you guys re going to love where I'm going with this story~**

* * *

Chapter 13

B ~~~

"Bumblebee, that is not an option at this time." Optimus told him. Optimus had already known what he was going to talk about before even speaking a word. Bumblebee had joined him and Ironhide as they were discussing how they were going to go about rationing energon for their trip soon.

"Optimus, let's send a group of us with her. There'll be less of a chance for an ambush, if any at all with a group."

"We cannot risk revealing ourselves to the humans, even if it is her mother. We don't know how she'll react. And on top of that, Decepticon scouts are everywhere in her hometown. We'd be putting human lives at risk. And Rachel's as well. She's not a warrior like us."

"So we'll be careful. Optimus." Bumblebee said to him. "She's not going to want to leave this planet until she's tied up those loose ends."

Optimus let out a heavy sigh. It seemed he had already considered this. Bumblebee knew this was a high risk for all of them. Prime had to consider the safety of all before the needs of one.

"I understand that, Bumblebee, but I cannot guarantee anyone's safety as long as we remain in the current situation. The quicker we are off this planet, the better chances of the Decepticons following after us. We want them to leave this planet with us, and I hope that is what they will do."

Ironhide grumbled, making no effort to hide his irritation. "Surely you have more important matters to attend to right now? Rachel will deal with it. You don't need to treat her like a sparkling."

Bee did his best not to show his anger to the older bot. He wasn't sure she could handle this. Even if she was slowly remembering, she retained the mental capacity of a human. Optimus knew this as well. Even so, which situation was better in the long run? Letting her see her mother one last time and risk revealing their location to the Decepticons? Or would it be better to force her to leave, in the end making her feel like a prisoner?

Bumblebee left without another word, his stare blank as he went to take care of some of his duties before him and Arcee would need to take Rachel out for more training.

She'd never trust any of them if they dragged her off the only planet she knew as home, especially when she lacked any closure. He felt a pain in his spark. The image of her crying human face came to memory. He hadn't always known the meaning of that expression, but now he knew it was something he dearly wanted to avoid seeing in her again. He couldn't promise her happiness with this life ahead of her. Though, he would do what he could to keep a smile on her face most of the time.

He'd only seen her mother a few brief moments in the time he had spent with her as a human. If they could find a way to meet her alone, this could work. The location would be a little difficult though. But there were still too many things that could go wrong. But if he could have this go right, maybe she could feel content with leaving this planet.

Nobody would know they left, and he would keep her safe.

* * *

R ~~~

The rumble of her engine felt strange. It was like feeling her body move on it's own. The best thing she could compare it to was a gurgling in your stomach when you digest your food.

She still couldn't get over being her old car. It felt ironic in a way. Though, to be fair, she hoped she'd be able to find something a little nicer if Bee actually would take her back home for the day. It made her think of home too much and plus everyone else was a nice, upgraded car. She was a tiny hatchback car. One you would could picture with a single mother picking her kids up from school. Nothing stylish whatsoever. She felt so guilty knowing Bumblebee had to turn into this for her those few weeks ago. It amazed her to think almost a whole month had passed since she had met Bee that night.

She stopped at the entrance of the bunker, staying parked as she watched Bee and Arcee speed out of the dark confines of the hideout. Rachel had no idea what she was doing. It felt so awkward when she finally began to move. There was no road where they were so it was incredibly bumpy.

Both Arcee and Bee had to stop for her to keep up. Rachel heard Bumblebee over the coms, a little bit of laughter in his tone. "It's going to be a very long drive if you go at that pace." he told her.

"He's right." said Arcee. "We can't be sitting out in the open like this for too long. It's a pain, yes, but you need to work through the rough terrain."

Eventually they were able to get past a certain point where they reached a dirt road. Although it was still bumpy, it was better than no road.

The both of them stopped to her surprise along the dirt road. Arcee transformed while Bee remained in his vehicle mode. She had thought they were going to take her out onto an actual road. It bummed her out a little, but she had to guess it was being they were still hiding from Decepticons.

Arcee gazed out down the road a bit, then pointed out towards a tall rock formation in the distance. It too far to where she'd be out of view from them. "So, first exercise will be trying to get to your top speed." Arcee looked over to Bee. "If you see anything on your scanners, even if it's a small reading, we're leaving."

"Right." He said over his radios.

Arcee looked back over to her, which Rachel took as a: 'begin this exercise'. She was really not looking forward to embarrassing herself in front of them. It was inevitable.

Rachel stepped on her accelerator, her back wheels seeming to have little traction on the dirt at first before she took off with a jolt. She was a smaller car, but she was thankful she was light. She was a little faster than she had initially thought. Once she reached the landmark she turned and made her way back towards them. Her confidence slowly built the more they had her practice.

She had lost all traction at one point in a speedy turn, causing her to turn over and lose her form. She was thankful that had been her biggest mistake of the day so far.

When she was able to figure out how to achieve her vehicle form again, she stayed quiet as she tried to listen to them talk as she slowly made her way back to them. Whatever they were talking about, Arcee didn't seem very pleased with it. She waved him off and before she was able to make it all the way back, Bumblebee met her the rest of the way. He transformed, standing in front of her with his arms crossed. She still remained as a car, still not confident she could get in this form as fast as he could.

"You owe me that race, remember?" he said with a small laugh.

Rachel felt her insides churn, regretting having ever challenging him to that. "Er… I was… joking?" She had a second to think of an excuse and it wasn't very good. "B-besides, Arcee told you to-"

"She's picking that up while it's my turn to give you some exercise." the way he was acting, she would actually believe he was excited for this.

"Bee, you know as much as I do that you will win this. That's not a fair race." Rachel pouted a little.

"If I remember correctly, your words were: 'I'll kick your ass in a race, car.'"

She slowly began to wheel off towards Arcee. "Hmm? What? I don't remember that."

His foot came up and stepped on the front of her hood, keeping her in place. "You aren't getting out of this one, human. You gotta own up to those words~" That coy, playful tone he had making her feel all giddy, despite her embarrassment.

Arcee called out to the both of them. "You'll never get him to shut up about it until you do it."

Bumblebee snickered knowingly. He transformed and was beside RAchel. "I'll even give you a head start. To that same landmark. Ready?"

"You are unbelievable." she grumbled, unable to hide her playfully tone behind her words. Her tires kicked up dirt for a moment before she shot forward, racing for the landmark.

She felt her whole body tense when she heard him rev his engine and catch up to her. That probably wasn't a good idea to make yourself tense when you're body is a car.

She had actually thought for a moment she could make it. When she was within fifteen meters of the finish line, he zoomed past her, drifting off to turn himself around liked a damned show off.

She had slowed as she came to the finish line, sulking. She knew she was going to lose. The fact he even had given her a glimmer of hope made her feel like she was now dying inside.

He drove up to her and she could hear his cheeky laughter. Though it was worth it from how cute he was being. She could tell he genuinely enjoyed that.

"You definitely seemed to have had fun there. I can see you've done this more than once."

"It's been a while honestly, but nothing makes me crazier than a race." he told her. They both transformed back into their regular bodies, Rachel needing a second to adjust after having been a car for so long. Her joints were aching like crazy. And being so tense during the race actually made her feel weakened.

"Did you used to race a lot on Cybertron?" Rachel asked him. The both of them made their way to Arcee.

His far off gaze made that an easy answer for her. "It was my favorite pastime. You have no idea how much I used to get into trouble because of it. I wish you could remember some of the tracks bots used to make. Primus, they were great."

She looked to him with a small smile. "Well, if we go back you can show me, right?" she asked him.

He rubbed the back of his neck, seeming to choose his words a little. "It'd be a little hard to do that now. This was before the war. There isn't much of those kinds of things left around Cybertron anymore." he told her. He was trying to keep his spirits high, but she saw that glimmer of sadness breaking through his exterior. She really couldn't understand what he was feeling, of losing your home. At least not yet. She still dreaded those memories ever coming back.

She stopped in her tracks before they were within range to Arcee. Bee paused in his steps as well, turning to see what she was up to.

Her words came tumbling out of her mouth in a jumble. "If you ever want to do that again, just ask." she said nervously.

Bee tilted his head a bit in question.

She quickly went to correct herself. "Racing, I mean... You seem to miss it a lot so… If it makes you happy, we should do this more often." her fingers tangled together awkwardly as she talked, and her chest felt like it was on fire from how embarrassed she felt. But she meant it. If she could give him something to take his mind off war, she'd do it in a heartbeat. It was the least she could do.

Rachel could tell he was pleased just from the bright look he gave her. It struck her a little in the moment, honestly not having seen him look so contented. His expression changed back into his familiar playful demeanor. "I guess I could teach you a few tricks. Maybe someday you might actually be able to beat me."

She hid away her flustered appearance, trying to hide the smile she struggled to keep away as she pushed past him to continue on towards Arcee. "C'mon. Let go." she put a hand over her mouth to cover her stupid smile.

* * *

R~~~

It was a while until Rachel could find a time nobody was around in the ground bridge room. Bee had technically been the one to find that perfect moment. She was extremely thankful Bumblebee actually knew how to work these machines. They had a location picked out, and she had figured out how to send an anonymous message through her communications programs. One of the many functions of her body she had no idea how to control quite yet. Her mother had received a text message to arrive at a certain location at a certain time. Rachel prayed she would come. It was weird for her, probably, but how else was she going to do this?

"I'm going with you. You know that, right?" Bumblebee said to her. He made her jump from her thoughts as he had been setting the coordinates.

"How will we get back?" she asked him.

"I set it to open in the exact same spot in a mega-cycle." he told her. She watched as he lowered the lever and the bright, spiraling gate opened between the two large arches before her.

"Mega-cycle?"

"In an hour." he said, walking ahead of her towards the gate. "Come on. You need to hurry up and do this."

She quickly followed behind him as he went through the portal, a feeling of complete dread filling her as she was engulfed by the light. The next thing she saw was a very isolated gas station. The street lights were giving off enough light to see the station itself, but everything else was pitch black in the night.

Before she could gawk at the surroundings more, Bumblebee pulled her down by the shoulder, getting her to crouch.

They were behind an old car wash used by the gas station. The place was pretty run down and desolate. But it probably got business being the only place out in the middle of nowhere in Nevada.

Bumblebee pointed out from behind her, out towards the edge of the parking lot to the station. She saw one car sitting by the edge, parked.

"Is that her?" he whispered to her.

"I don't know. I can't see." she said. She heard a small "whirl" sound from Bee behind her. He liked to do that sometimes when he did something similar to a sigh. They had attempted to teach her settings she could use with her optics, but she failed miserably at that part. She had actually gotten stuck in night-vision while she was outside.

It was, 11:59, almost midnight like they had planned. Once the minute had struck, she watched as the door to the car opened and a figure began walking in their direction. She tensed up, slowly creeping forward on her knees towards the edge, trying to get a better look. She couldn't make out if it was her or not, so she stayed hidden.

Bumblebee's hand came clasped her shoulder, and his grasp was tenser than even her. She turned her head to look at him, and his eyes were wide, staring forward ahead of them out in the distance. His expression rattled her. "Run." he said suddenly. "RUN!"

He shoved her off to the side before she could even register his words, tumbling a bit in some dirt. She hoisted herself up and looked back, only to see a large pike-like spear sticking out through the top of Bee's shoulder. It was attached to a long, thick rope and being pulled to the direction they had been looking in previously.

"Bee!" she cried out, shuffling up and watching as another went through his arm. He was dragged out into the light where groups of men came running out from behind cover, guns aimed at the both of them.

She felt as if her spark had dropped as she saw a military unit appearing from out of the darkness. They had been waiting for them. How did this happen?

Rachel rushed to Bumblebee's side. Without thinking she tried to pull out the large rods from his shoulder and arm. He let out a cry of pain, making her quickly buckle over, trying desperately to think of a way to get him free.

"Go! Run now!" Bumblebee shouted at her. She frantically shook her head.

"I'm not leaving you!" she cried out. She shifted her arm into her blade, trying to cut the large steel cords attached to the large spears.

"Rachel, listen to me for once! Just RUN!" He demanded of her. She was shaken when she saw the look he was giving her. No, dammit, no! This was her fault! She wouldn't let him get hurt because of this.

"Bee! Tell me how I can help!" she begged of him, her words sounding as though she were sobbing, even though her body was physically incapable of producing tears. She was useless. Nothing but a burden to him, and she still didn't want to listen. She cursed herself and her emotions.

His free arm pushed her away. "Get Optimus! Getting away WILL help me!" he shouted at her. She cursed at him and bolted in the opposite direction. She covered her head, ducking a bit as she heard them firing their weapons at her. She felt the bullets, and some lodged into her systems. Thankfully nothing was causing too much damage.

She still didn't know how to work her comms well, but dammit she had to try. She made her way into a large, empty scrapyard full of beaten, old cars and tried to find somewhere to hide. She shifted into a car, hiding between some other trashed vehicles. All of this while she focused on trying to work her comms. She couldn't stop cursing to herself, eventually making an open comm link and calling out.

"Optimus! Optimus, we need help! Please! Bee-" she cut it off when she heard a loud explosion in the direction of the gas station they'd been at. She wanted to get out of her hiding spot and see what had just happened, but she could hear the sound of more military getting closer. Ground troopers running with the clinking sound of moving gun parts in tow.

She stayed still, not even realizing her entire body was shaking even though she was a car now. She tried turning everything off around her, trying to stay calm, trying to not be so scared.

Her spark lept when she heard Bumblebee's loud engine in the area. He seemed to be somewhere outside of this junkyard she was in, and she could hear the military vehicles giving chase.

The troops were close to her now, within possibly 10 meters to her location and getting closer. How well would this damn disguise work? Well, she didn't look like a robot anymore, but would they recognize this car?

Her ventilation systems sucked in air when she saw them smacking at some of the cars with the butts of their guns. These guys knew what they were. How long had the humans known about their existence? She remained still, trying not to make a sound as one of the men smacked at her hood. It hurt, dammit it hurt. But she remained as still as she could.

When the men eventually were past her, she tried her best to listen for Bumblebee again. She couldn't hear him as well with the commotion going on around her. There was gunfire and lots of yelling.

Suddenly she could hear the sound of jets. She wasn't sure what would be better, a Decepticon or a human? Every second of this was getting worse. She had called for Optimus, but she wasn't even sure she'd done it right. If Bumblebee got hurt again because of her stupidity…

The thought gave her the courage to move again. She bolted out of the junkyard, trying to follow the sound of the firefight. She was trying to be careful in the directions she was going, hoping not to leave the following military group right to Bumblebee.

She finally spotted him, but it wasn't a sight she had expected to see. Not yet at least. The military was held back, and there was another bot Bumblebee was dealing with currently. Her only guess was a Decepticon by the sudden appearance of a jet plane in complete darkness of night.

She made her way around the scene, to find a vantage point where she could help Bee somehow. She just hoped the Autobots were on their way.

She transformed when she had some cover, taking a few moments to observe what was going on before quickly standing to bolt out to the fight. As she was just about to dart out…

"Ah, precious girl, where do you think you're going?"

A much larger figure came out from behind a corner, reached and grabbed at her neck, hoisting her up. He was much larger than her, and no matter how much she squirmed, his grip grew tighter.

"Soundwave, I have what we need. Deploy the ground bridge." The Decepticon said. Whoever he was, he used the minimum amount of effort to keep her captive. Most of the bots she'd seen before all had two eyes so far. Why did this one only have one large red eye?

At her realization that this bot was retreating with her, she called out for help. "Bee! Bumblebee!" she cried out, her hands clawing at his much larger digits around her neck. She didn't stop crying for him, even as she was taken through the ground bridge.


	14. Chapter 14

**Edit 3/17: So I'm still very behind and still working on the chapter. Sorry guys! Like I said, it will get here eventually, I promise! I just have a lot of irl stuff going on right now that takes full priority unfortunately. I'll get back in the groove eventually!**

 **Edit 2/28: I'm a bit behind on the chapter, sorry guys! It will be here eventually. Work makes me so tired!**

Sorry this is late everyone! Work has been hectic, and I wish I had more time in the day to do all the things I want to do!

Today I actually had a snow day from work, so it was the perfect time to work on this!

Now heads up, this chapter is a bit more violent than any previous, so if you are not alright with a lot of violence, I suggest skipping to Bumblebee's POV later on. It's not super graphic in detail, but I know there are people out there who don't like those sorts of things. But this is why the story is rated M ;)

I am going to try really hard not to be late on this next chapter!

I appreciate all the follows and favorites! They mean so much! And thank you so much for all your comments. I love hearing from you guys! Tell me your favorite moments and what you want to see more of in the coming chapters! I aim to please!

Enjoy!

Chapter 14

R~~~

Rachel woke finally, only to be blinded by a bright light shining above her. She hadn't even realized she'd been knocked out. She was held in bindings on a large table that reminded her of the ones from Ratchet's med lab.

Her whole body tensed when the sound of voices grew more audible. Her eyes darted around the room. She slowly began to recall being captured by that much larger bot.

The area around her was bleak. There wasn't much in terms of lighting. Though the architecture wasn't too different from what she was used to from the Autobot's base. Only a little less homey.

"Ah, it's about time you woke up." It wasn't the voice she had heard from before, but this was was still familiar.

She stared at the shorter, red bot who was busy maintaining a few instruments on the side. She remembered this guy from the time Bee and her had tried to hide in that abandoned power plant. She didn't remember the name, or if they'd even told her.

When he turned to look at her, he seemed to give a small smirk from the look she was giving him. "Remember me at all?" he asked her.

"Kind of… You were there with that other guy in that power plant...?"

Simply having recognized him seemed to have boosted his ego a bit. "You can call me Knockout. My comrade's name is Breakdown."

She remained quiet, staring at him blankly, not really wanting introductions from this guy. When she didn't say anything, he lost the smirk on his face, and turned to go back to his business. But he continued to speak to her.

"That was a pretty big mistake you made back there on Earth. What gave you the idea to open a comm frequency to reach across the entire planet?"

She lifted her head from the table, looking over towards him. "What-?"

"You'd think they'd train you a little more on the use of your comms before letting you use those things so freely, kid. You sent out the message to every Cybertronian on the planet."

She squeezed her eyes shut, her whole body felt bizarrely numb. She did this to herself, and she did this to Bee… All of this was her idea.

God, if they hurt him…It would be her fault. Again.

"Seems we also came right on time. Or, at least Shockwave did. Lucky us. Autobots had just arrived when you two departed."

She was a bit relieved to know that Bee was probably okay now. At least the others had shown up. Dammit, if she'd have stayed in that junkyard and hid, would she have been safe? She had no choice but to call for help. Bee was occupied with the military. The situation could have gone worse if she had stayed silent, right? She really didn't know, but she felt ashamed and stupid. Worthless.

Knockout seemed to have picked up on her somber expressions from her thoughts. "Oh, no reason to be too upset. You're in… decent hands." he said with a small laugh to end his threat, a big unpleasant smirk on his face.

"Why am I-?" she paused as someone entered the large door to the room she was held in. She recalled Knockout's words had been 'On Earth' previously. On Earth in a past tense.

"Knockout, your fraternization with the prisoner will cease at once." A one eyed Decepticon stepped into the room they were in. She just stared, stiffer than a board. "I am already wasting my time on this planet. Do not waste more of it." The Decepticon stepped towards Knockout, snatching a tool from his hands. "And do not tinker with my equipment."

"Why, I am simply… cleaning your instruments, Shockwave. I _am_ one of Megatron's top medical officers. I _am_ trustworthy." A small flicker in Knockout's eye gave her the impression he really could never be trusted with anything.

"I am no fool, Knockout. You were ordered here as my errand-bot. You are no assistant of mine."

Knockout raised both his hands out to the side. "Things go a lot smoother with help, Shockwave… especially in delicate matters such as a central neural abscission?" She contemplated those words. Central neural abscission?

Knockout continued, trying to hold his ground. She didn't quite understand his intentions or why he was so keen on being around this Shockwave.

"I'm sure the… all-knowing Shockwave could teach a few things to a lowly soldier such as myself."

"I do not require a pupil. You test my patience, doctor. Leave." Shockwave told Knockout in a deep, booming voice.

Knockout edged towards the door, though still couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut. "Er… Lord Megatron was the one who sent you here to Earth, right?" Knockout asked. He was a lot less egotistical when being towered over. Or outranked.

"To my disappointment, yes. It seems I am the only one Lord Megatron can rely on me." Shockwave said as he made his way over to the table she laid strapped to. Knockout left the lab, leaving her alone with Shockwave.

He pulled at her chin and began looking her over. "Lucky you."

"What do you want?" she tried to wiggle her head out from his grasp, but as she'd tried before, any attempt to release herself was just met with a tighter grasp.

"Something I gave you a long time ago. Now I want it back." He stepped behind her, raising the medical table closer to his height for easier access. She felt something hard at the back of her head. His hands maybe? He was tinkering with something.

"H-how-?" the word came out as if she were shivering.

"I'm simply going to extract your core systems. If memory serves correct, I embedded it somewhere within the center of your central cerebellum cortex."

Something clicked in her from the word."You emb-... What do you mean?" she asked, unable to control the violent shuddering from her body.

The Decepticon let out a short chuckle, making his way over to the other side of the table where she could see him. "The Autobots never disclosed this information?" Shockwave's expressionless head tilted in surprise. Why was he so different from the others, so impossible to read? This simple, almost featureless visage before her was frightening.

"Disclosed what…?"

He let out a cruel little chuckle. "What an amusing surprise. I never would have anticipated myself being the one to tell you." She could see his single red eye glow with delight.

"Wh-at are you t-talking ab-bout?" She said, forcing out barely coherent words.

"I must ask you first, my dear. What did the Autobots tell you, hm?" He waited expectantly from her.

Her mouth parted a few times to speak, only to close again as she couldn't get the words to come out. "They t-old me it… I just had inf-formation… I thought this was some sort of-"

"You thought it was a tool? To be clear, their lie was one of omission. You do have information about it, but the truth in its entirety is that you are the device itself."

Her shaking had stopped, and she was frozen. "What do you mean? H-how?"

There was another cold laugh. "How very intriguing that they withhold these important details. Pulling you from your human life and inserting you back into this war was a very crude decision."

"Stop it!" she burst out, her words wavering in attempt to keep herself from crying.

" Lies and inaccuracies only impede one's progress. You should disregard that questionable time spent on Earth as a human. Even before, you knew you memories would be wiped clean. And you did so anyway, knowing your guilt would vanish as well."

Her whole body felt rigid, as if she were frozen solid. She attempted to take a deep, calming breath but the panic of being unable to even take in air hit her again and made her start to feel very disoriented.

"What are you talking about?"

When he didn't even hesitate to answer, it was like she could feel her spark fading away for a moment.

"Did you really believe that the technology to create organic life from scratch was readily available? Did you not question how you were able to obtain a human body? It was neither a construction nor was it a clone. You assumed control of the body of a human child to ease your suffering."

She was unable to get any part of her body to move. "What?"

"There is a simple hypothesis that explains it all very well. The ship crashed over a thousand stellar-cycles ago. Ten years ago was when you awoke. That was how I found your signal. Thanks to the Autobots, they made the transition a little easier."

Rachel physically felt like she was choking, her insides twisting and writhing within her. "Shut up!" She cried out. Her next words came out as a sob. "You're lying!"

"Choose to believe what you want. I've given you the truth that the Autobots would not. It's a small gesture I offer in exchange for what I am about to do."

She was near complete hysteria by his words. Her mind was racing. There were so many things she wanted to contemplate all at once. She couldn't get words to escape past her metal lips.

He walked back behind her, and she felt his hands positioning her head as he began to tinker. After a few moments she figured out he was trying to get inside of her head.

"Open up, or I will force it open." Shockwave told her. He began tapping a finger at the back of her head. "I will not ask twice."

She didn't know how to do that. But even if she did, her mind was breaking. She couldn't focus, nor even string together a coherent sentence or thought.

He didn't wait very long. She cried out, screaming, when she felt something being drilled into the back of her head. Whatever it reached, sent excruciating pain through her. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head, and her back arched upwards as she tried to break from her binding. She didn't know what to do, nor did she know if the Autobots would be able to get her. It was hopeless. Though she had no pity anymore for herself. All the emotions she felt were anger. She deserved all of this.

* * *

B~~~

"Bee! Bumblebee!"

He thought she had run. Why didn't she stay hidden? He had been able to transform and speed away from the fight with the Decepticon, only to watch Shockwave carry Rachel through a ground bridge.

He remembered feeling complete dread as he'd watched her disappear.

"We need to be out there looking for her." Bee told Ratchet.

" _We_ have a plan in motion. Bumblebee, I need you to remain focused." Optimus told him. "You said you saw Shockwave take her through the ground bridge?"

Bee flinched as Ratchet began amending a spot on his back. The human military hadn't done too much damage, but it did leave a good amount of damage to his shoulder and forearm. It wasn't horrible, but it still was painful.

"Yes. He's really the only one optic'd Decepticon I know of."

"By the Allspark, who knows what he's doing to her…" Ratchet grumbled, but was still concentrated on his work. Bee noticed he was being a lot less careful than he usually was.

"Bumblebee, I will need you again, despite your failure to follow my orders. I expect to see you, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Ironhide in the shuttle in two kliks. " Optimus said. "We will discuss our next course of action after we return with Rachel."

Before Bee could get out another word, Optimus had left the two of them. He'd screwed up big time, and he honestly wondered what sort of punishment Optimus had in store for him.

Bumblebee quickly joined the others in the shuttle. Optimus went over his plan as the craft was exiting Earth's atmosphere. The Decepticon ship was going to travel lightspeed soon. The building energy preparing for FTL travel in their carrier would be enough to find them

Bee's attention returned to Optimus once he heard his own name.

"Bumblebee, you and Arcee will infiltrate the ship from the outside. Ironhide, Bulkhead, and I will be their main distraction."

"How will we know which area to enter?" Bee asked. Optimus brought up a hologram of the design of the Decepticon ship from his forearm. "Ratchet installed a beacon in her to help us in a situation like this. Fortunately, the Decepticons will not be able to detect it, so them removing it should not be a concern." There was a very faint red blip on the very upper deck of the ship. "Ironhide and I will be entering an emergency escape route. You can thank Bulkhead for his knowledge of these kinds of ships."

"And when we find Rachel?" Arcee asked moving towards the port leading to an maintenance exit for the ship.

"Establish a private comm link with Ratchet back on Earth and he will set space bridge coordinates for you location. We will handle what comes our way until we can get our own safe escape." Optimus told them. What bugged him most was how unsure Optimus was in his plan. They had a good way of getting to her, but how long would the three of them last against the Decepticons? Optimus was strong, he had no doubts. But they didn't know exactly what kind of reinforcements Shockwave had brought with him. Anything could happen.

Their ship had quickly activated a cloaking mechanism so they would be rendered undetectable as they closed in on the closest point to Rachel. Optimus and Ironhide were the first to go. They entered guns blazing through one of the empty escape ship ports. Once Prime and Ironhide were set, it was time to find Rachel.

Bulkhead assisted in finding an entryway for the two of them. Bulkhead knew ships better than any bot out there. This Decepticon cruiser was no different from anything else that had been created before the war. He directed them to a maintenance shaft made for minicons and smaller personnel. The both of them were small enough to make this work. Bumblebee struggled a little, but it seemed Arcee got through it with ease.

The both of them were watching the small red bleeping dot on their radars as they scrambled through the vents. They were both still for a moment as they heard a loud shriek in the distance. The sound rang through the hollow ventilation system. They were close, but they had to make their way upward.

They were able to get a good view of the ship through some of the ventilation holes. This definitely had to be Shockwave's personal ship. Rooms were either storage or some sort of lab containing an experiment Shockwave was working on. He tried his best to not look too closely, but Shockwave was a gruesome Decepticon. Test subjects were prominent throughout the ship, some already dead, others caged for Primus knew how long. There were even some creatures he'd never seen before. All of these sights before him were sadly not surprising to him. He expected nothing less of the mad scientist Shockwave.

Once they reached the signal on their radars, Arcee carefully peeked into the room where Rachel was confined. Shockwave was busy with his work. Rachel laid offline on a medical examiner's table. He saw that the back half of her head had been dismantled. Parts were strewn across the table. It didn't look like Shockwave planned to put it all back afterwards.

The two of them burst into the room, weapons aimed to the mad scientist.

They didn't really have a solid plan made, but they had to get Rachel away from him. This could very easily turn into a very bad situation though.

"Step away from her, now." she hollered.

Shockwave did not still in his work, nor did he even turn to look at them. Bumblebee made sure the room was sealed shut so no reinforcements could be called by him. At least for a little while.

"I will shoot out your optic if you don't get your cervos away from her right now!" Arcee exclaimed.

She released a warning shot directed at his shoulder. This finally made him paused and he did as she said, though he did not step away from his work.

Arcee didn't shift her sight or her aim from Shockwave for even a second as she barked out an order.

"Bee, get Rachel."

He kept his own gun aimed at the con as he made his way over to collect Rachel's body from the table. He was no medic like Ratchet, so he grabbed whatever parts looked important and just hoped Ratchet could fix this with whatever he'd brought. He really didn't like the sight of this. Parts of the inside of her head were cluttered across the lab table.

Bee stepped away, Rachel's body slung over his shoulder.

Arcee commed the medic back on Earth. "Ratchet, open the bridge. Once Bee is through, close it."

Bumblebee shot a hard stare in her direction. She knew already he would be against this.

"Arcee-"

"Don't question me, Bee! Just do it!"

He'd already screwed this all up, and he really wasn't up for it happening once more.

The space bridge appeared behind him. He was hesitant in making his escape. He didn't question Arcee's ability, but this was Shockwave and she would be on her own.

He commed the others as ran through the gate. "I have Rachel safe. Arcee needs back-up at her location."

"We're en route." Optimus had responded.

The gate was closed behind him. He was back on Earth. Back at the base. Ratchet quickly came to his aid and took Rachel's limp body from him. This whole time he hadn't really taken in fully the state she was in. His mind had been so focused on getting her back to base and making up for his critical mistake.

The back of her helm had been forced open with what looked like a drill. The back portion of her head was missing. It sunk in finally that he had done this. It was his fault that she had to suffer what Shockwave had done to her. He should have listened to Optimus. He should have done many things differently, but this definitely was one of the times he wished he could go back and stop himself.

Ratchet placed her down on one of his med tables. He very quickly began his work in looking her over.

"Ratchet, is she going to be alright?" Bee asked. He had so many different directions of worry in his mind right now, it made it hard to think clearly. He had left his team on a Decepticon vessel. He never wanted to run away from a fight, especially not after what he'd done to disappoint Optimus.

Ratchet was being unusually quiet. When he did finally speak, it was before a long, drawn out sigh.

"This can be fixed, but… The chip is gone. Shockwave got what he wanted."

Bumblebee's optics widened. "Then we need to warn Optimus!" he burst frantically.

Ratchet shook his head. "Optimus already knew we wouldn't make it in time for the chip. The main goal was getting her back. The good news is we have Rachel back with us. The bad news is this means we need to leave this planet and get back to Cybertron as soon as possible. We have to stop Shockwave at all costs..."

* * *

Thanks for reading! You can only guess where this story is planning to go very soon~ You guys are going to love this!

Big changes are going to happen for Rachel, and we can only hope she will be able to handle them~


	15. Chapter 15

**Holy heck where have I been? Life. Life is where I've been. That with job juggling and stress made it difficult to focus on writing, but I finally got the encouragement to continue. I'm sorry for such a large cliffhanger, but I hope to make it up to you all in this chapter. I think you guys will like it!**

 **I have been working on drawing on the side, and I actually have been working on a comic for this story! I will be posting new pages every 2 -3 weeks, so you can check it out on my deviant art site!**

 **I know you can't put links on here, but just do your usual deviant art with , then / insanitypie**

 **There you can follow me and see what I'm up to!**

 **I'm not done writing yet, I still have a looot to go! I hope you guys will all join me for the ride!**

* * *

Chapter 15

B~~~

Ratchet was already busy at work on repairs for Rachel's cranium. Some of the pieces Bee had grabbed were important, others not so much.

Optimus, Arcee, and Ironhide had made a very tight escape from aboard the Decepticon ship. Bulkhead had already returned to the base with the shuttle by the time the group had catapulted through the space bridge. They had suffered some damage, but it was nothing worse than he'd seen before. He took the time to help everyone get to their feet and into Ratchet's care.

Rachel was stable when Ratchet began treatment on everyone else.

Bumblebee looked over towards Rachel who was lying in stasis on the med table.

"Good work retrieving some of those parts. Unfortunately though, she'll have a rough patch-up job until we can get back to Cybertron." Ratchet had told him.

'I was lucky.' he thought to himself.

When the others questioned him on why he let Rachel out of the base and out of their sight, he only had one thing to say. "Honestly, she probably would've done it even without me." he told them. "I wasn't going to be able to stop her."

"It took one wrong move and now we're in deep slag." Ironhide had said. "Did she really not understand the gravity of our situation?"

Optimus chimed in before Bumblebee could say anything. "Her ignorance of the situation lays upon my shoulders, not Bumblebee's." Prime explained to his second in command.

Arcee spoke up this time. Of all of them, she seemed the most agitated, even more so than Ironhide in her own special Arcee way. Her servos were tense and optics sharp. "Optimus, we don't usually question your judgement, but why not tell her from the beginning? There were so many opportunities where things could have gone wrong. We're just lucky she listened to us most of the time. But now…?"

"I understand your hesitance, and the uncertainty of this mission." Optimus said to them. "There were many unknowns when we came to this planet. But one thing I would not sacrifice was the free will of this human. This would be her decision."

"But Prime, now she will be 'human' forever!" Ironhide grumbled. "What good was it to switch her body in the first place?"

"Neither of them would have survived if we left her unchanged. Consider this a repercussion for what Aurora had decided when she landed on this planet. She chose to drag a human into this war, in her attempt to save herself. Now, that human can officially live a life and walk her own path. At least, that is what I am hoping she will be able to achieve."

Optimus looked them all over before he continued. "She will choose what she wants. I will not force her to join us to leave for Cybertron."

There was a silence, all of them a bit shocked at Optimus. She really did have a choice of staying or leaving?

"And if she chooses to stay?" Arcee asked.

"Then so be it. But truthfully, the way things are going, I highly doubt she will stay. Yes, sometimes she doesn't know better, but she's not a fool."

Later on, Rachel woke up, but she did not utter a word to any of them. She simply stared at the wall as she laid on her side. She was conscious, and she felt fine thankfully.

Bee went to the side she was facing and crouched a little into her view, hoping she would focus on something else rather than the wall.

She glanced to him then looked back at the wall. She wasn't up for talking it seemed. He did try though.

"Rachel… You haven't said anything since you've come back. Are you feeling alright?" he asked her.

She made sure she was not looking at him, as if she were wanting to keep her face hidden for some unknown reason. After some time when he didn't budge from the question, she finally gave him an answer. "Not really, no." she said.

Bee looked over to the others quickly then back to her, getting a little closer so they could talk more privately. "Rachel, talk to me. What happened up there? I'm sorry, I… It's my fault this happened. Please-"

"Bee, shut up. You know this was all my idea in the first place. I'd have gone and tried to find my mother by myself, even if you hadn't gone with me. Things would have been a lot worse though if you hadn't come." she told him. "Don't for a second start blaming yourself for my stupidity, Bumblebee." She was stern, and she meant it. Her eyes were piercing his own with a look he'd never seen from her before.

He was silent, and surprised, but his face lit up a little as he let out a sigh. His hand came to the top of her head as he looked her in the optics. "Well, I'm just glad you're back."

"Rachel, it is good to see you awake." Prime spoke, striding over to where Bee was standing. He even crouched slightly, much like Bee as he knelt beside Rachel.

Before he could even say another word, Rachel very quickly spouted, "Optimus, this was my idea. Don't be mad at Bumblebee because I was an idiot." her voice choked back a little, her tearless human sobs coming through again. "I screwed this up for all of you. And I'm sorry."

Bumblebee didn't often see Optimus with a shocked look, but he had a very clear look of bewilderment. Bee could only guess he didn't expect a response from her like that. Bee noticed Rachel's startled flinch when she felt Optimus' hand on her shoulder. She was tense, even with the gentle gesture. She had not been so emotionally jumpy, but whatever Shockwave did to her wasn't something she would be able to simply shrug off. "We are not quite lost yet. It is merely a setback for now. But with these turn of events, we have no choice but to return to our home. I hope you understand the gravity of our situation now?"

Her face contorted a little, something she commonly did when she had been trying to hold back tears as a human. "Why didn't you all just tell me the truth about this stupid thing in my head? Why not just tell me some Decepticon did it to me?"

The entire room fell silent, even Ratchet stilled his maintenance on some plating on Ironhide's leg.

"We were afraid of what memories it would bring for you in the beginning. It is best they are left forgotten, Rachel." Optimus explained to her.

Ratchet poked into the conversation, edging towards them as be began to speak. "I'm not 100% sure, but I'm wondering if because that chip was removed, will those memories ever be able to return. Including your whole life on Cybertron."

"Everything?" Bumblebee asked.

"I don't know. But I would imagine most of it. The best way I could possibly put it is that Rachel is mentally going to stay human for a long time."

"I don't want them anymore. " she said messily, putting her hands on her face. She had been so eager to get these memories back in the beginning. Even with the small amount she had gotten, it seemed she didn't like any of them.

Bumblebee asked her. "Are you sure about that?"

"I'm absolutely positive." she told him. "I've done and seen things I don't want to ever remember. I am content staying an ignorant human."

In a strange way, it sort of relieved Bee to hear that from her. At least she would never have to rediscover those times under Shockwave, but that still meant this was an organic human mind operating in a body she had no mental capacity to understand. It's not that humans were unable to understand, it was just not the body she knew how to use. It would take a while.

Ratchet let her know his disapproval as she began to sit herself up, trying to get herself off the table. "Rachel, you sit back down on there this instant. You are not well."

She ignored his orders, making her way to the exit.

Bumblebee quickly went after her, grabbing her wrist to stop her from making an escape. His spark leapt in it's chamber when he saw the look she gave him. She was waiting for him to let go, but he wasn't going to.

Bumblebee looked in her eyes, hoping she would understand he meant well. "Rachel, what happened up there? What did he do to you?" he asked her quietly.

Her face scrunched once more, and her composure seemed to have completely been lost. She yanked her wrist from him and went running out of Ratchet's medbay.

* * *

R~~~

She ran quickly to get out of sight from everyone, mostly from Bumblebee. She felt like a mess, and an emotional wreck. At any moment she felt like she could break. She went into the large bunker where Bulkhead was busy maintaining the ship. Behind a few crates and boxes, she'd found an isolated spot and curled into a ball in the corner of the large main hangar bay. She had already tried to think of a way to cope with this, but nothing felt right. The guilt was heavier than she could bear.

It didn't take long to hear the metal clang of footfalls getting closer. She tightened her hold on her legs as she heard the footsteps stop. She buried her head down so nobody would be able to see her face. When she heard the slight movement of metal shifting, she had thought it would be Bumblebee. But to her surprise, it was Optimus.

"Rachel…" he spoke quietly. "I understand your frustration and the anger you feel towards yourself, and towards me. But you can guess by now why we kept most of this quiet."

"But Optimus, I did something horrible." her words were hoarse and broken. They barely strung together coherently. "I stole a human's life away from them. This whole time I thought I was really Rachel. A human. A real human." He was very quick to stop her there.

"Rachel, you are not the Aurora that you once were. You never will be again. You are Rachel. The same human we had first met." he told her.

She finally looked up, confused by his meaning. "That's just because I didn't remember anything from my past…"

Optimus gave a small shake of his head.

"Rachel, Aurora never took the life away from the human. You are that human. Who you are now, is who you were. And now, you will forever be that human."

Rachel's eyes widened. Even if it still made her feel horrible, she felt a wave of relief flood over her. So many things had been held back from her, and she tried to make sense of why. Before she could say anything, she watched him stand and speak once more.

"Rachel, you are apart of this team now. I do not want you to think I am hiding these things to spite you. I merely worry how you will be able to handle them." he told her. "The human mind is a fragile thing, and I don't want to break the human that's in you now." He held out his hand to help her back onto her feet.

Rachel took his hand and went to stand, her legs a little wobbly from having held them so tightly. His hand came to her shoulder once more. "Rachel, are you still willingly come with us to Cybertron to retake our home and stop Megatron in his plans?"

She almost felt like he had been joking, but she knew better with Optimus. She didn't have a choice really anymore. And how would she go back to her life as a human after all of this? She knew Optimus meant the question, and he did care. Her life would never be as it was before, and as long as her mother and friends were left unharmed, she would be content.

As much as she wanted to learn everything she could about her missing human life, it was not an option at this time. After everything that had transpired, that had become more apparent. They had hoped Aurora would come back eventually, but now it might be impossible. Rachel would carry on in her place. She hoped she could return here again, someday. And maybe she could learn and protect this planet from things like Decepticons and even Aurora.

Her mind started to drift. All of this couldn't have been possible without Bumblebee. He'd given so much and helped her through every step of the way. She was extremely thankful to him. He was good to her, and she didn't want to lose him. She wanted to remain by his side for as long as she possibly could. He was all she had to call family right now.

She looked up to Optimus with a confidence she hadn't felt in a long time. "I will. Please, teach me to be the Cybertronian I'm supposed to be and…" her confidence dwindled as she realized what she was about to say. Her nerves were getting to get again. "And let Bumblebee always be by my side, and I'll help you in any way I can. I know you're probably upset with the insubordination. But I… need him."

Optimus had an amused smirk across his face, which made her extremely embarrassed. "Of course, Rachel."

She thanked Optimus before she made her way to the medbay before Ratchet would lose more screws. When she returned, the first thing she was met with was Bumblebee outside of Ratchet's clinic. He was about to say something, but before he could speak, she simply walked up to him and pulled him close to her. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and for the first time that day she let out a sigh of relief.

Just from how stiff he was being, she could tell he was confused. But then it was her turn to freeze up when she felt him reciprocate. His arms were around her waist, mimicking her hug, and pulling her close to him. She'd hugged him enough, so he was learning pretty quickly by now.

She hesitated, her spark feeling as though it was melting downwards through her body as she went to look up at him. An overwhelming warmth spread through her when she met his eyes. She began to melt when he closed his eyes and let his forehead rest against her own. She didn't know her feelings right now, and she was positive he didn't really know what his own were either. Cybertronians knew intimacy, some sort of it, but what was it to them? What did it mean and how did it make him feel?

She lowered her head away from his own, her mouth opening to speak, only to quickly move closer to him when the words wouldn't come to her. What she truly wanted to say felt so hard to get out. She didn't know how to word it.

He was waiting, and that made her even more flustered in this situation. When she finally was able to get words out, her voice was under a whisper. "Bee, I am a human, was, and… I don't know if what I feel is the same as what you feel. I don't want to pull you down somewhere you aren't fully aware-."

His face plate lowered and a quiet sound escaped past her lips as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek. It reminded her of what she had done before entering her new body that one day. When he backed away to look for her approval, all she had for him was a flustered, embarrassed look on her face. She crossed the distance between them once more, this time kissing his metal mouth. Both of them seemed to drown in the moment as they embraced one another. Her whole body was melting with his. Where did this all come from? Why did she feel so attached to him? God, she thought. He was all she had to hold onto. She just wanted to be by his side.

She drew away, realizing they were just doing this in the open. Someone could very easily walk by. She was about to apologize, and he knew it. "Bee-"

He cut her off, making her want to bite the inside of her cheek as she was silenced. She didn't have a fleshy mouth to do that anymore. "Rachel." he began quietly, his eyes were staring straight into her own once more. "I don't understand this feeling I have. I've never felt anything like it before. But, whatever this is, I don't want it to stop. I want to discover more of it."

She felt unable to move, unable to do anything really. All she could do was stare into his eyes and take in every little detail of them. The way his bright, light blue eyes glowed, the way they focused on her. It made it feel like her whole being was singing inside.

"What are you feeling exactly?" she asked him.

His eyes left her for a moment, seeming to stare at the wall as he contemplated. It took him a moment before he spoke again. "I want to be around you all the time. There's a strange tug on my spark whenever I see you." he explained, then his eyes met her own again. "Do… you know what this is?"

She remembered he had explained when she was human how some Cybertronians grew strong relationships with one another. What kind of relationships that was, she really didn't know. But he said it was possible to happen, though rare in their current days. What sort of relationship did he want exactly? Truthfully, she hoped it to be the same that she wanted.

"Bee, I want to make sure we… we're on the same level. I don't know enough about being Cybertronian. But if we-" she choked on her words once more. It was growing more difficult to put her thoughts into words. Her mind was racing, nothing really made sense at the moment. She had to remind herself that this was actually happening though. She huffed and calmed herself a bit. "I… want to be by your side and… I need you there by mine. I want to be close with you… But only if I know you feel the same."

His forehead came to press on her own, a small chuckle coming from him. "We'll learn then. Maybe we can teach each other until we figure this out? One thing I know absolutely is my spark aches when I see you upset. I want to keep that from happening in the future." he told her. His words made her smile, and every little worry in her was slowly washing away. He really didn't want to give this up, and it really made her feel incredible for once. Why on Earth he was so interested in learning about her to begin with was puzzling, but now he wanted to learn even more. And she the same to him. "We'll see where this takes us." he said finally to her.

She nodded to him with a gentle, nervous smile. She would have him through all of this, and it genuinely made her more curious where this would lead. But she was happy. And knowing she had to leave the only home she remembered, it was a relief she could take a little piece of that home with her.

* * *

R ~~~

She was going to space. Well, this technically would be a second time, only now she would actually be able to experience it. They hadn't told her for multiple reasons, but the base they hid away in was a camouflage vessel they had arrived on Earth in. A place of operations, and a way of transportation. And it made sense why they would have a docking ship with them. The shielded barrier the ship had around it made it look as if it were part of one of the rock formations.

She asked them how exactly they were going to get this giant ship into space without being spotted. Ratched answered with a small laugh. "Simple. We have a stealth cloak on this ship thankfully, and we're already blocking out any frequencies that might be able to pick us up. And even if they somehow managed to discover us, we'll be long gone before they have time to act."

She stayed in the front cockpit of the ship, taking one of the seats nearby. It was a large control room comprised of multiple different stations. She didn't know why she hadn't tried to venture the place more. It would have been obvious it was a ship if she'd been there previously. She sat quietly at one of the station's seats, twiddling her thumbs as the others hustled around her. She offered her aid, but truthfully it was best she not get in the way. They'd teach her eventually, but right now it was best they get into space safely.

She listened as a low rumble gradually grew stronger and louder. Everything around her was coming to life like she had never seen before. The entire room lightened up more as energon ran through the systems. It was like something out of a science fiction movie.

It didn't take long for her to feel a slight shift in pressure as she felt the structure move. She had tried to take a breath to calm herself, only to once again struggle with her affixation she would have to live with for the rest of her life. As she felt a twinge of panic run through her body, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over and saw Arcee take a seat beside her. The sight of her alleviated her panic quickly, reminding her to calm down. She had to find a new way to ease her tension, rather than trying to breathe.

"Rachel, come take a look out the windows." Arcee said to her. Not a lot of time had gone by. Were they already…?

She stood with her and came close to the front of the ship, placing her metal hand on the layered glass. They were floating above Earth. She was in space.

She was awestruck by the sight. She never in her life thought she would see such a sight in person. To think she was able to see the Earth like the astronauts could. It was a special feeling. But also one she knew she wouldn't see again for a while. She quietly spoke her goodbye to her home, not leaving the view until Earth was just another star amongst the vast abyss.


End file.
